Zutara Week, 2013
by Eternity In Seconds
Summary: A collection of stories about the love of Zuko and Katara, for Zutara Week 2013. D1: Calor - All Katara wanted was to see Zuko again. Now, she's on the run with a shirtless Zuko, with Fangirls hot on her tail. Who loves Midsummer! D2: Euphoria/D3: Voices/D4: Gravity/D5: Bound/D6: Soothe. Day 7: Spark - Immortals have rules, love breaks them. She can't help falling for Zuko anyway..
1. Calor

**Calor, A Zutara Week 2013 Story  
****Title: Calor, A Zutara Week 2013 Story**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Genre:** Humour/Romance  
**Words:** 3,040  
**Pairings:** Just look at the title…_  
_**Summary: **All Katara wanted was to see Zuko again… Now, she's on the run with a shirtless Zuko, with Fangirls hot on her tail! Midsummer Nights are always fun!  
**Authors Note:** Welcome to Day 1 of Zutara Week. I have decided that all these stories will be from Katara's POV (third person limited), except for two (tentatively). This is my FIRST Zutara Week, so if these stories are longer than normal, let me know! I am pretty chuffed to be able to be a part of Zutara Week this year, and look forward to creating something for each of the prompts. Hopefully, the time-zone difference thing doesn't get in the way!  
**Disclaimer:** Bryke (Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko) and Nickelodeon own EVERYTHING. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them.

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**Playlist:  
** _Wild_, Jessie J  
_Teenage Crime_, Adriana Lux

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calor (noun): Spanish for _heat _

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**Calor**

Katara couldn't decide what she hated more: the Fire Nation summer heat, or her brothers incessant, persistent whining about the Fire Nation summer heat. Either way, Katara was **this close** to throwing herself overboard so she can escape Sokka. And the heat. Both are wonderful ideas at present and will both provide something she needs: her sanity.

"I mean, seriously, what idiot thinks that this kind of hot is worth celebrating for a full week? A week?" Sokka rages, storming back and forth along the metal hull of the dignitary ship sent specifically to pick both of them up from the South Pole two weeks ago. "Why? I could crack an egg open right now – at this very second – I would have an overly done and burnt egg."

"Cheer up, Sokka," Aang chirps from under the shade of his sky bison, Appa, "at least it gives you the perfect opportunity and reason to go to the beach!"

Sokka's whole face transformed and he smiled almost diabolically, making Katara sigh in exasperation as she fanned herself with the complimentary silk fan. "Oh My APPA! AANG! You are a genius! The smartest man alive! Bikini's and girls and water and girls covered in water wearing bikini's…"

"Because just saying bikini didn't get the message across at all," she snarked, collapsing in a chair.

Katara resisted the urge to slap her own forehead as Sokka continued on with his description of why the beach was so awesome. Ever since he and Suki had officially – and permanently, this time – split up at the end of winter almost five months ago Sokka had been obsessing over girls and his architectural designs for the Southern water Tribe's new city. No matter how much Katara prodded and poked, both Sokka and Suki were staying tight lipped about the whole thing. In her last hawk-message from Suki, Katara had heard all about Suki's new boyfriend.

"And who thought that sending a metal heat-conduction cinder box as our official second annual Peace Summit craft was a good idea? Why is the hsip metal anyway? Metal sinks! Metal is hot! Metal is Metal!"

Katara snapped back to attention and saw Sokka in a heated argument with no one in particular. She turned to Aang and sent him a quizzical look, taking of the very thin travel cloak Sokka had forced her to wear. "Has the heat finally gotten to him?" Aang flushed and hurriedly flew away to play with Momo.

Alone, Katara decided to stop Sokka's hallucinations. "These ships were built during a war with the Fire Nation, Sokka. Sure, wood floats and is a much better material then metal, but it burns. In a war where the enemy have a relatively unlimited access to fire, it's a really stupid move to make ships of wood."

Sokka turned a flabbergasted expression in her direction. "You. Have. A. Tail… SEA WITCH!" Then he sprinted into his cabin and slammed the door shut.

**xZxKx**

"Announcing the arrival of the Avatar, Airbender Aang, General Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe and Master Waterbender Katara of the Southern Water Tribe!" The finely dressed announcer cried out to the gathered crowd. Katara smiled graciously as a few young girls shyly sprinted up and shoved a collection of Fire Nation flowers into her arms.

She looked up after they left; scanning the crowd for the face she had been dreaming about since leaving the Fire Nation two years ago. She had realised after Aang had kissed her, in Ba Sing Se, that she had feelings for Zuko. But then, he was back with Mai. Toph had told Katara that the two had broken up about a year ago, unfortunately, though; Katara had been stuck in the south since then.

Katara stood up gracefully and went on her tiptoes, scanning the crowd for a flash of Zuko's face. She found none. She did, however, see one very short earthbender. Luckily, Sokka had the same though. "Toph, what are you doing here? Where's the brilliant and magnanimous Firelord Zuko?"

Toph punched Sokka, making him stumble back, before snickering. "Wow, Sokka. It's really nice to see you too. I have been great, kicking some rouge Fire Nation booty with my boys and winning."

Sokka gave her a dry look. Toph sighed. "Firelord Sparky had to deal with a problem in Traders District. I will be your escort. Now, hurry up and get moving. Sparky promised that he would take me swimming later and if I miss it, I will personally rip out your small intestines through your larynx, comprendé?"

Katara blinked in surprise, taken aback by the rather techy conversation and Toph's immediate greeting. Sokka gulped and trotted back to the ship to get his belongings together. Aang sent Toph a concerned and confused look, activated his glider and disappeared after Sokka.

Katara stood awkwardly with Toph, toeing the ground and slowly sweating to death. Finally, Toph spoke. "Thank Agni. I was worried that they would never leave. Now, Sugar Queen, Sparky is actually in the Market Square. If you caught through the next alley on your right and then take you're second left, then the fourth left, you should find him."

Katara gaped at Toph, the heat stunting her brain processes. "What?" If she was being honest, she had lost all proper thought after Toph had said Sparky.

Toph grinned dangerously. "Look. You and I both know that you're heart starts up like a rabbiroo in heat whenever Sparky's within three hundred feet. Now." Toph earthbent a rock slab to slap Katara on the butt, causing her to stumble toward the blind girl. "You and I also know that you have been in love with Sparky since you came back from your little life-changing fieldtrip. So, I am giving you the opportunity to get some balls and man the hell up."

Katara blinked again. Then once more. Then she started sprinting. "Thank you Toph!" She called back as she sprinted around the alley corner.

Katara followed Toph's instructions and arrived at Market Square to find it in full out party mode. Banners, lights and ribbons hung from every surface, criss-crossing over the Square.

She turned down another lane and smashed into another running figure. She landed on top, straddling the innocent bystander, and started apologizing profusely. "I am so, so sorry! I should have been watching more closely! Oh my Tui, can you even hear me? Did you hit your head? Please, whatever you do, don't go into the light!"

She heard a throaty, scratchy chuckle, felt it reverberate through her body. "Nice to see you too, Katara."

Katara's heart was about to collapse from exhaustion. "Zuko?"

He looked so different, but still seemed the same. His jaw and face were more defined and pronounced, all baby softness gone, replaced by aristocratic angles and cheekbones. His jaw was strong, half his hair pulled back while the rest fell around his shoulders. She felt lean iron muscle coil beneath her legs and body.

Nineteen had never looked so good on a person. Zuko was all grown up and she was never going to get over him.

She shifted from her perch on his stomach and heard him hiss as she brushed against his groin. "Katara… get up… right now… please."

She jumped up, blushing furiously and watch as he moved his hands to rest palm down beside his head He rocked back and flung himself upwards, landing in a low crouch. He dusted off his maroon clothes.

"Zuko, why where you running?"

Zuko turned, heading towards the end of the lane, his duo blades secure on his back. "No reason." He replied lightly. Katara watched him, loving the fact that he looked so relaxed. His shirt was partly opening, revealing the top edge of his lightning scar (and his six-pack, washboard abs) and his hair was half out of its top knot. His breathing was slightly laboured like he had been running or exercising for a very long time and the sound set shivers down Katara's spine and put very sinister scenes into her mind.

She struggled for a moment before regaining her breathing and tried to school her face into a natural, **I-was-not-just-thinking-about-you-kissing-me-every where** expression.

"Let's go." He mumbled, turning around and trying to hide the pink that was travelling along his pale cheek. Katara noticed and wondered what was wrong with him. They were just passing the gate when a cry of what might have been harmonized voices echoed from the surrounding trees and mist.

"FIRELORD ZZZZUUUUUUKKKKKKOOOOOOOOO!" the voices sang. A group of girls walked out of the mist slowly, and it would have been impressive if it wasn't so bloody cliché.

Katara blinked back at them, seeing only their elaborate and revealing dressed and robes and trying to discern the sheer number of them. She counted quickly while Zuko straightened in front of her, no longer threatened, but his posture hinting at something more panicked.

_Seventeen?_ Katara's eyes widened in alarm as she watched their clichéd approach. _Why are they all female?_

The girls promptly fell into formation, the mist swirling dramatically around their ankles. Zuko took a hesitant step back, his fingers inching towards the handles of his blade, Katara wondered why he didn't just light up. Zuko took another step back, revealing Katara behind him, looking curiously at the girl's odd expressions of determination.

"Ah… Zuko..?" Katara stuttered, completely baffled and confused, as the alarmed and morbid feeling in her gut progressed to a very, very bad and fearful feeling in her gut, heart and mind.

The girls' focused rapidly on Katara, zeroing in on their target like wolf-lions, their eyes locating their next target with predatory efficiency.

Katara followed Zuko's example and took a surprised step back, blinking rapidly at their narrowed eyes.

"Just a question Zuko…"

It was two seconds flat that it took for the girls to surround them both, easily manipulating the space to their advantage like they had planned it.

"Who are you?" One of the girls snapped, taking a threatening step forward. The waterbender blinked again, rubbing her hip where her empty water pouch rested teasingly close. Why did it have to be so hot?

"Me? I'm just-" she began, feeling the heat as it sunk under her skin, feeding her already frazzled temper and disposition. A group of five came forward, easily walking between Zuko and Katara, shoving Katara away for good measure and creating distance between the two.

"Hey, sweetie." One of the girls started, walking forward towards the Firelord. He took a step back for each of her steps forward until his back was to the wall. "I don't like your girlfriend." She smirked, leaning in close, making his eyes widen in surprise despite himself. "I think you need a new one."

"I could be your girlfriend!" A dozen different voices shouted suddenly.

It hit Katara like one of Toph's rocks. They thought she was with Zuko. Katara shook with feeling (She allowed herself a moment to swoon and cheer like Ty Lee) before settling herself down. Then, she heard the girl dressed in the tea rag.

"Why would you want _that_, my Firelord, when you could have me? She's a peasant with no breeding and stupid! But don't worry. I'll help you break whatever savage spell she had you under!"

"I'm not a peasant!" Katara breathed slowly, rising up and moving towards the female that had Zuko pinned against the wall. Katara knew that Zuko wouldn't ever go against these girls. They were his people and they were female.

Then, Katara felt the pull of the water and smirked. The silence that met her ears was good as she pulled the water towards her, bending it effortlessly. It was so satisfying. There was an instant addiction to that silence.

Slowly she breathed in, lowering herself into a fighting stance. "There's no way…" She smiled at them, flicking the water whip threatingly, "that you'll win."

Zuko shifted, managing to shove the girl out of the way and let loose a quick, warning burst of fire from his mouth. The girls shrieked, momentarily distracted, and Katara pounced on the weakness.

"He'd never go for someone like you."

"You're a sneaky little slut who has used her savage witchery. That's why he-"

Katara didn't give them another moment to talk, ignoring their voices she shot forward, her water whip trailing behind her, glistening and shining in the suns setting light. Spinning around she connected rapidly with the first dozen girls, easily knocking them fault.

Breathing in slowly still to control her feelings, she spun around to face Zuko. They exchanged a silent conversation with their eyes and ran.

**xZxKx**

"Hey Zuko, I have a question," Katara started innocently as they screamed around another sharp bend. "Who were they and why did they want to kill you?"

"That was my official fan club," Zuko winced, trying hard not to turn as red as she did when she was embarrassed. Katara noticed and realised that he was utterly ashamed. "And they don't want me dead. They want me for… other, less fun things."

"Death is fun?"

"Absolutely."

Katara felt another vindictive smirk tugging at her lips and a laugh rising in her throat, but she contained it, trying not to focus on the way her hand felt in his as he led her through the labyrinthine streets of the capital. Zuko was actually explaining what they ran by as he led her, pointing out historic residences and heritage sites. Katara privately wondered if this would be considered a date.

Zuko stopped them, gesturing with his hand in the universal wait sign. A procession of performers and acrobats was making their way up the street; fire benders performing intricate tricks that made Katara feel young again. In their dark little lane, Katara decided to ask the question that was burning inside her.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Zuko asked distractedly as he moved himself beside her, pressing against her unintentionally. Katara felt herself flush as the small lane became even smaller.

"Why are they like… that."

"Midsummer heat can get to a person. Especially a fire bender. Today is the longest day of the year and it has been the hottest on record for years. All these things are like drugs to fire benders. You just… act. You are blinded by the passion."

"You seem fine."

Zuko looked down at her; an arm pressed against the brick above her head while the other one was held stiffly by his side, and gave her a burning look. "Don't let appearances deceive you." Katara felt her stomach churn as her heart grew butterfly wings. Her heart pounded erratically against the cage of her chest, and she wanted to cover the bare inch that separated her face from his…

"There they are!"

Startled out of her decidedly euphoric thoughts, Katara tightened her hold on Zuko's hand, letting out a shriek. Zuko tightened his grasp in response and spun them around, dragging her behind him.

"Run!"

Finally they burst out of the shaded streets and into the dying light of the sun. They were on a completely crowded beach, fires dotting the sandy ground as a band played hypnotic songs from a gazebo. Couples danced and ground against each other, lost in the heat and Fire Nation sweet wine.

Zuko pulled her along to a series of tents and shoved her into one. Next, he chucked a skimpy white thing at her after he blindly and unthinkingly stole it from a nice looking girl. "Put this on."

Katara blinked, but did what he said. It was a bikini. The top was barely two triangles held together by flimsy, thin back strings and halter strings. The bottoms were just as bad. She saw a thin white, semi-transparent scarf discarded at the bottom of her changing tent and tied it around her hips.

Zuko was waiting for her. Without a shirt.

Katara felt her throat grow dry and blamed it on the heat. "Come on," Zuko finally said after staring at her intently for a long, joyous moment. He took her hand gently and led her through the crowd. The song changed and they were smothered by couples, swaying with no real direction to the lyrics of the Fire Nation woman.

Katara stuck out like a sore thumb, her dark skin and white bikini like a flame in the dark. She noticed quite a few Fire Nation boys staring; their eyes hooded, and curled up against Zuko's side. His eyes flickered down and saw where she was staring and narrowed dangerously. One of the boys started, seeing the scar and backed away, whispering to a separate group of boys and girls, who in turn turned to look.

Zuko bought her close, taking her arms and winding them around his neck. "Dance with me," He murmured against her neck, his breath hot and heated. Katara could only nod wordlessly as she fell into step. She felt all their eyes on her, heard the whispering like a hum around her.

The boys continued staring and the fangirls searched the crowd. Katara felt her gut clench, waiting for that one citizen to cry out or make everyone else aware of their Firelord's presence, when she felt Zuko's lips press against hers. All dark thoughts slipped away and the heat consumed her.

She eagerly reciprocated the kiss, hungrily kissing him as her arms tightened around his neck possessively. She vaguely comprehended the crowd moving away from them, forming a circle and falling silent.

He broke the kiss.

"What?" She tried to demand, failing when she realised her voice was more of a husky breathe.

He bent down and she felt his breath against the shell of her ear. "Midsummer is also the night of lovers and dreamers. It's been my dream to do that too you for far too long, love. I couldn't watch you leave again without knowing if you…" He pulled away and smiled roguishly. "And if I'm going to die at the hands of my fangirls, I wanted to make sure the top thing on my bucket list was checked off."

Katara felt her face split in two. "I'm not going anywhere." And she kissed him again.

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**A/N:** Well...

...

...

...

So... what do you people think of the interesting shenanigan that is _Calor_? I don't know where I was going with this when I started, I still don't know, but I really don't care. I like it, so TOUGH TITTIES! I really wanted some Toph and Sokka craziness, so I chucked them in with no cares in the world. I hope everyone is in character (but I doubt it). And I hope you enjoyed the wild ride! Next up, tune in tomorrow for EUPHORIA!

Check out my DeviantArt page (EternityInSec) for some of my original poetry!

READ AND REVIEW (PLEASE!)

- EIS


	2. Euphoria

**Euphoria, A Zutara Week 2013 Story  
****Title: Euphoria, A Zutara Week 2013 Story**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Genre:** Romance/General  
**Words:** 825  
**Pairings:** Just look at the title…_  
_**Summary: **Katara realises that the best things in life are the simplest, little blessings in disguise…  
**Authors Note:** Welcome to Day 2 of Zutara Week. I have decided that all these stories will be from Katara's POV (third person limited), except for two (tentatively). This is my FIRST Zutara Week, so if these stories are longer than normal, let me know!  
**Disclaimer:** Bryke (Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko) and Nickelodeon own EVERYTHING. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them.

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**Playlist:  
** _This Land_, The Lion King (1994 Walt Disney Animated Film)  
_Listen With Your Heart II_, Pocahontas (1995 Walt Disney Animated Film)

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euphoria (noun): a feeling or state of intense excitement and happiness

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**Euphoria**

She screamed, the pain consuming every one of her senses. She burnt like she was in the lava underneath Caldera City. She clenched her already tightened fists harder, feeling the nails dig into her skin and break it. She felt the soothing trickle of the blood as it ran down her palm.

"Breathe. Please, love, breathe with me."

She felt a comforting tap on the edge of her clavicle – a calloused thumb – as it beat a rhythm against her burning, searing flesh. She tried to synch her breathing, tried to calm her senses. Slowly, she felt herself calming, felt the pain ebb away as she listened and felt the beat.

"That's it. I'm here for you. Breathe with me."

She opened her eyes and blinked away the blurred edges, panting with her laboured breathing. She felt the heat leave as he left the room and panicked for a single, forever-long second before she felt the weight in her arms.

Black hair. Dark Skin. Ten tiny fingers. Two closed, squinted eyes. A tiny mouth, just like his. Perfect, unblemished skin. Fluttering bird-wing heartbeat. The child didn't cry. She smiled, tears trickling down her flushed cheeks as she bought the little one to her chest. It latched on to her bare breast and started suckling and she felt something inside her take flight.

_Euphoria._

Hot lips against her cheek, she allowed her eyes to flutter open and focus on his face. He smiled the smile she only saw. The one reserved for her and her alone. And he stroked a hand across her forehead and down the side of her face to the edge of her lips. She hummed happily, contently.

He took their child from her arms and cradled it against his chest, offering her his other hand. She understood the meaning, the question in his eyes, and smiled. Taking the large warmth, he pulled her up cautiously. She was naked except for a thin, very short scarf tied around her waist but she didn't care; didn't care that she was covered in her own blood and muck. The way he looked at her made her feel like the most beautiful thing in the world.

He handed the newborn back, undoing the buttons and catches on the front of his robe and shrugged out of it, revealing the maroon tunic and gold belt over the simple long-sleeved grey top. His hair feel to his shoulders, the top layer tied back into a simple knot. The duo blades strapped to his back reminded her that he had returned from the war front to be with her.

He took one of her arms and slipped it through the sleeve. She understood and twisted for him, helping him dress her in his war robe. She swapped their child from arm to arm and watched him – studied his face, drinking in every detail. She was like a parched man in the desert. He had been gone so long but he was here, now, alive.

He playfully drew her closer with the ties on the tunic, carefully bringing her in. He kissed her on the nose and deftly did them up tight, covering her. He reached a hand around to the back of her neck and released the sticky and dirty hair that had become trapped. He murmured his love in her ear and led her to the balcony.

He stepped outside with his Uncle, flashing her a smile before ducking through the transparent curtain. She half-paid attention to what the General was saying, cooing at her young child as it blinked up at her with glowing molten gold eyes. She heard the roar of the crowd and took that as her cue, parting the silk curtain and stepping into the bright light of the Midsummer evening glow.

He took her in his arms, wrapping his arms around her waist and placing a kiss to the place behind her ear that made her flush. She looked bedraggled and tired, but the people – her people, didn't care as they cheered and bowed below her. The High Court stood on the other balcony's, in the shade of fan bearers, while the civilians and travellers and general populace stood in the courtyard, pressing against each other. Their number was uncountable, stretching far past the gates and into the streets of the city.

"Presenting Firelord Zuko, first of his name, his wife, Fire Lady Katara and their son…" Iroh paused, turning to them in question.

"Zukka!" She yelled, raising her son high above her head. The crowd roared, the sound like a tsunami crashing against impregnable rock.

When Zuko's hands slid around to rest against Katara's stomach, through the slim opening of his robe, she lost all sense of noise. She was in a bubble. All she could feel, smell and hear was Zuko. All she could see and touch was her son, Prince Zukka. Then she turned her head and felt Zuko's lips crash against her own.

Euphoria.

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A/N: This one was very hard to write. I was stuck for an idea, even though its like one of the easiest, but ohwell. Anyway, I had my iPod on shuffles as a typed and backspaced the hell out of my keyboard when suddenly _This Land_ started playing (form the Lion King). BOOM! Katara holding golden-eyed baby up in front of a setting sun with thousands of voices crying out in happiness. But how did she get to this point? Switch. _Listen To Your Heart_. BAM! STORY! ZUTARA! EUPHORIA!

I don't belie that the world suddenly became peaceful after Sozin's comet. The Ozai supporters and all those against Zuko would be too high in number to back away quietly and sit in the corner as he ruled the Fire Nation. Their would be guerrilla warfare and civil war. When Zuko announced his marriage to a waterbender, full-out WAR broke out as purists demanded he step down etc etc. Zuko would leave for the war front, fighting alongside his brothers and supporters, while Iroh and Katara would rule in his place. When Katara found out she was pregnant, Zuko would be ecstatic. If he knew she was close to giving birth, we would leave to be by her side.

Now, I also believe that most of the people would be happy with Zuko's rule. It would only a be a very vocal/violent minority against him. Thus, the majority would come from all over the Fire Nation Archipelago to bare witness to the birth of their new Prince or Princess.

Zukka is both a Fire Nation name (I believe that Fire Nation names have a harsh or z like sound. Ur-_za_, _Zu_-koh, A-_z-_ula, O-_zai,_ I-_roh_ etc etc). In the watertribe, names traditionally ( or, at least in Katara's family they traditionally have) an _ah_ sound to the end. Thus, Zukka is a union of both cultures.

Not that you needed to know all that. But I felt like sharing.

Tune in tomorrow for VOICES (which is much longer).

Please, **read and review**. I love to hear your thoughts and constructive criticism or praise etc, because it helps me as a writer. Check out my other stories, too, especially House of Crows (my canon Zutara story).

- EIS


	3. Voices

**Voices, A Zutara Week 2013 Story  
****Title: Voices, A Zutara Week 2013 Story**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Words:** 4,820  
**Pairings:** Just look at the title…_  
_**Summary: **Katara finally returns home to the Southern Water Tribe. But the Voices all around her keep telling her that "home" is where the Heart is…  
**Authors Note:** Welcome to Day 3 of Zutara Week. I have decided that all these stories will be from Katara's POV (third person limited), except for two (tentatively). This is my FIRST Zutara Week, so if these stories are longer than normal, let me know!  
**Disclaimer:** Bryke (Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko) and Nickelodeon own EVERYTHING. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them.

* * *

**Playlist:  
** _The Sea Is Calling_, the Temper Trap  
_All I Ever Wanted (With Queens Reprise_), The Prince of Egypt Soundtrack  
_Flow Like Water,_ Avatar: The Last Airbender Movie

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voices (noun): The sound produced in a person's larynx and uttered through the mouth, as speech or song.

voices (noun): Express (something) in words

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****** Read and Review**

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**Voices**

It was considered by many to be one of the greatest days in the history of the Southern Water Tribe, the day that Katara and Sokka, the long lost and believed to be dead children of Chief Hakoda (having been whisked away by the Air Avatar Aang), returned to the frozen tundra. There were celebrations and grand fires lit; rejoicing (official and otherwise) for weeks after the Wolf Warriors of the South returned home after long years of war.

The joy of the inhabitants of the Southern Water Tribe and all its relations was raised to levels unprecedented and unparalleled in their history when their Chief Hakoda announced that, in his children's travels, Katara had been made a Master Waterbender and convinced benders of the sister-Northern Water Tribe to come to the South and help rebuild their once great Snow City.

Katara knew that she had completed what she sent out to do. She had honoured her mother's memory and become the Last Southern Waterbender. She had stayed with Aang, helped and protected him, and aided in the fight for peace in her world. She and her brother had managed to reunite the sister-tribes of the north and south poles, something that had been lost for over two hundred years.

Katara hadn't expected much when she returned home. Maybe a special dinner with her Gran Gran (Spirits, how much she had missed Gran Gran) and an extra fur pelt for the night. She hadn't been expecting the cheering. Her father's men had returned four weeks before her, and obviously, they had informed the general populace of her and Sokka's escapades during their travels with Aang. When the ramp had been dropped, her whole tribe had been standing in a semicircle, waiting for her. And they had screamed and shouted with one incredible voice.

Sokka had, of course, decided to play up the attention and struck poses and kissed some little children on the head while the slim collection of Southern Water Tribe girls – and, come to think of it, the few Northern Tribe girls that had come with their bending families – had flocked around him like lost cowsheep. Her father had immediately been engulfed by his men and they had started singing the Wolfs Howl (her Tribe's version of a victory song).

Katara had been left by herself feeling more alone than ever before.

Finally, Sokka had remembered her and called out, bringing everyone's attention to her and all their voices. The cacophony they made beat against her temples, pushed against her skull, made her head hurt. No one noticed that she wasn't well. Not even Sokka. Not even Gran Gran, who had always noticed whenever something was happening with Katara in the past.

When the crowds finally thinned and Katara returned to the igloo she knew as home, she had turned to Gran Gran and smiled. Gran Gran had smiled back and hugged her. Her father and Sokka returned bringing dinner, and for the first time since her mother had died, Katara ate a meal with her family.

Lying in bed that night, Katara felt that empty place inside her ache. She didn't understand it. Katara loved being home. Katara was so very happy to be back among the snow and ice and furs. Katara was ecstatic to see her Gran Gran, and her father, again, together.

But she still wasn't happy.

_It was like hugging a stranger_, a soft voice whispered in the dark. _It was like visiting someone else's home… It was nothing like what you felt saying goodbye to Him: ripping, tearing, hating every moment_… Katara banished the voice and fell into a fitful sleep.

xZxKx

Rebuilding with the Northern Benders was an experience. It took a year, but was worth every minute. Sokka had designed the new Tribe from scratch with only Zuko's advice. The new Tribe would be a circular labyrinth of a city. In the very centre was the Tribe Meeting Hall and a magnificent ice-statue dedicated to Tui-Yue, the Moon spirit (Katara was very happy to admit that she had built it all by herself). As the buildings moved further and further away from the centre, they turned from official buildings and shops to houses, igloos and tents. At each of the cardinal points of the Tribe, canals were built. They ran straight – not a turn or twist at all, just a straight line of flowing water – until they met in a fountain beneath the statue of Tui-Yue.

Katara loved her new home.

Aang had come and visited for twelve days every three months. Katara enjoyed his visits because Aang had become a part of her on their travels. The little voice inside her head made it very clear to her that Aang was not what she wanted.

She loved him, but not in the way he loved her. Not in the way her parents had loved each other. He wasn't a brother, but he wasn't what she wanted as a lover. She pushed those parts back whenever he visited, letting him kiss her and hold her hand, and then when he left she allowed those feelings to come back.

And every time he left, she swore that when he returned she'd tell him.

She never did though.

And each time she saw him, that little voice deep inside her got a little louder.

_Why do you want to squirm when he touches you? Why do you want to tell him to let go? You never had this problem when Zuko hugged you, just before you left Ba Sing Se. Why do you feel so uncomfortable around your people, when they look like you and talk like you and see things like you? Why do you want pale skin and midnight hair? If Zuko had hugged you like that, you would have wanted more._

Katara pushed the betraying voices away and got on with her new life.

Katara's fifteenth birthday passed with no big issues. A messenger Hawk from Toph, a messenger Hawk from Suki and a surprise visit from Aang. She received no word from the Firelord or his Uncle. Katara had banished those thoughts to a dark place inside her that never saw any light. She called it the Zuko Zone. It seemed that she never heard from Zuko. Toph spent the three winter months in the Fire Nation, and the rest at her Metal Bending School. Aang very rarely saw anyone, because of his search for airbenders. Sokka only saw Zuko it meetings and delegations.

Katara dreaded the thought of her upcoming sixteenth birthday. The Northern Water Tribe insisted that she be married, or at least engaged. No one really pushed the issue because of Aang though. No one wanted to make the Avatar upset.

On the day she turned sixteen, she had woken early, breathing in the darkness of the day-moon (she hadn't realised how much she had missed the six months of moonlight), pulling on a parka, stealing Sokka's old spear and headed out.

It had been a tradition when her mother was alive. Her mother would wake her up before anyone else, bundle her up and take her out to the old Moon Temple. With its monolithic columns and high, domed ceilings Katara would sometimes pretend that it was a palace out of the stories Gran Gran told her.

Katara used the spear to test the ice in front of her and to help gain better footing as she trudged through the foothills of the ice mountain known as the Spine. The temple was at the base of the mountain.

Katara entered, shrugging of her heavy parka. It was always nice in the temple, even though it was all ice and no one had lit any of the torches in lifetimes. Padding through the hallowed halls, Katara closed her eyes and extended her senses. She left the water immediately and followed its pull until she reached the heart of the temple.

It was the Southern Water Tribe's version of the Spirit Oasis.

Settling herself down, Katara sat cross-legged by the side watched the electric blue waters. There was no ceiling above her and when she titled her head back she saw them. The Auroras.

The Spirits of her ancestors.

"Hey mum," Katara greeted, lying down beside the Aurora Pool and letting her fingers glide absently along its surface. "Hello mum… It's been awhile, hasn't it? I'm finally back home. I'm sorry that I haven't spoken to you in so long, but I am back now. Just in time, too." Katara sighed, freezing the air in front of her face with her waterbending. "Do you know what today is, mum? Today I turn sixteen. Today is my birthday. And I don't feel all that happy. See, over the past year, everything I have ever known has changed and warped. Nothing is what I thought it was and the impossible isn't all that impossible and I miss you so much I have been dying a little bit on the inside because I really need you right now and I have never felt so lost before in my life and everything is confused and backwards and I just want to cry but I can't…"

Katara laughed, breathlessly and hysterically. "I should probably explain, shouldn't I mum. I've been travelling the world and trying to save it. And I did it. I know. I saved the world. The Avatar – the last airbender – he was alive. He was alive and right outside our igloo. He was only a boy. He was only twelve and he was only outside our igloo because he ran away from his temple because he didn't want to become Avatar.

"I kind of lost my temper at Sokka and maybe-sorta waterbended an iceberg in half. And _pop!_ there he was. A boy with a huge skybison – just like in the fairy tale book you gave me. Sokka and I became friends with him and took him in. He was incredible. We didn't know he was the Avatar at the time, but I knew that there was something special about him. Everyone was happy for a while, but then a metal Fire Nation ship arrived with a sixteen year old leader, who demanded we give him the Avatar. And that's when we found out, and that was the first time I meet Zuko…"

Everything spilled out. Katara couldn't stop the words from coming; they were like the waterfall Zuko had shown her on Ember Island. Unstoppable and powerful beyond anything she had ever imagined. Katara told the Heavens everything as the lights played across the indigo and silver sky, the stars winking at her as if the Spirits inside them were trying to comfort her.

"…Sokka is forever leaving for Peace Summits and meetings, and I am so busy with my Waterbending Academy. Aang is… well, Aang is Aang. Childish naiveté and ancient wisdom all wrapped up into one hyperactive prepubescent boy. He hasn't told me, exactly, but I know that he loves me. Everyone sees it and everyone keeps looking at me and whispering about the Avatar's beloved. Like I'm some sort of possession. Now that more and more traders are coming down here, I hear more and more things that make me so angry. People are forcing men and boys and teenagers at me left, right and centre and Aang has been giving me strange looks all week. Every time someone mentions marriage, I blow up and somebody gets frozen. I've told them that I'll never get married until I want to, won't marry if it is organised or predetermined. But mum, the stupidest thing is that I would get married if it was organised with Him. But, yesterday, I heard the traders talking about his upcoming engagement to someone else… I guess I just don't know what to do or how to feel," Katara sniffled, her chest heaving with dry sobs. "I guess all I really want is one of your hugs."

Katara fell silent and listened to the silence around her. Except it wasn't silent. Katara stood up and titled her head to one side as a high pitched keening noise drifted along the wind to her. She followed it through the temple until she came to a caved in room. And a very fluffy dire wolf cub. Katara didn't even bother fighting the instincts that screamed at her to help. She rushed towards the cub and immediately started to shift through the ice blocks that had come down around it.

"Shh, little one," She soothed, "everything is going to be okay now."

The little cub blinked huge, icy blue eyes at her and then slammed into her chest. Katara wrapped her arms around the fluff-ball and buried her face in its shoulder, smelling ice and cold and something smoky that made her heartache.

_Thank you for the hug, mother…_

xZxKx

_What do you think you are doing, Silly Human_? Katara had long ago given Nuluka's Looks a voice in her head.

The wolf – now nearly as tall as her – was staring as Katara tried to stop her irritated shaking. It was the Anniversary of Peace in a day and a half, and dignitaries from all over the Four Nations were coming to the Southern Pole. There were two reasons for this influx of interest. The first was the second annual Peace Summit. The second was to see Katara. Most – thank Tui – were arriving for the Summit (apparently, news of her treatment of suitors had reached every corner of the globe. Men walked past her and winced, hands drifting down in protective instincts. Toph had messenger-hawked her and voiced her amusement at the whole thing).

"We welcome you, King Ushar, to the Southern Tribe," Sokka bowed formerly as one of the twelve Earth Kingdom kings daintily exited his ship. Each City State of the Earth Kingdom had its own monarch, and Katara still didn't know one form the other.

"What is that Spirits-awful smell? Fish?"

Frankly, she didn't care either way.

_How dare he come to my home and insult…_

She saw the tell-tale twitch of Sokka's eye that usually indicated that he was pissed off and about to stab someone with his space sword. Besides the twitch, however, he remained completely at ease. Katara still couldn't comprehend the change in him. At eighteen, he was one of the most respected leaders in the world (the most respected was either Firelord Zuko or King Bumi... she wasn't sure which, though). She, on the other hand, was fast becoming one of the most infamous people in the world.

"I'm sorry if the smell bothers you, King Ushar," Sokka announced, covering for her obvious outrage, "we are a fishing people, after all."

Katara snorted and crouched down beside her wolf. Scratching Nuluka behind her big, black ears, Katara whispered into her ear and explained just how much she wanted to play fetch with some good old fashioned balls. King Ushar gulped and Katara grinned victoriously.

Sokka continued smiling radiantly until the King was out of sight, then turned to glare at her. "Katara, he has one of the biggest armies in the Earth Kingdom and you just threatened to play fetch with his balls. He is also one of your suitors."

Katara shrugged. "That's why I wanted to play fetch."

Sokka face-palmed in exasperation.

"Look, Sokka, you know how I feel about that stupid marriage law!"

"And you know how I feel about that stupid marriage law! But Dad needs us to respect the old traditions. He wants this peace between North and South as much as we do."

"And my marriage to an Earth Kingdom idiot will keep that?"

"Yes!"

Nuluka growled, pulling her lips away from her teeth. Sokk and Katara turned around simultaneously to see Hahn approaching with Chief Arnook.

Hahn and the Chief bowed. "Welcome brothers," Sokka said, bowing. Katara did the same, shushing Nuluka easily.

"You're city is much improved since I last saw it," Hahn observed, flicking hair out of his eyes. "It still has a long way to come before reaching the same level of beauty and size as the Northern Tribe, however. But it will do."

Katara narrowed her eyes at the pompous brat. The water in the canal behind her shifted, and its voice hummed through her veins.

"You have changed since the last time I saw you, Lady Katara," Hahn simpered, his eyes drifting up and down Katara's figure gratuitously. Katara bristled as his eyes lingered on her chest.

"Yes. Well, the last time we meet I was pulling you out of the Northern Bay after the Siege of the North," Katara said, smiling brightly.

Hahn frowned. "Yes, well, I managed to take out twenty of their men. Didn't you lose the Avatar?"

Katara scowled and Sokka laughed, throwing an arm around his sister and giving her a tight squeeze. "We had some fun while we saved the world, didn't we?" Sokka squeezed extra tightly and Katara winced.

Hahn didn't bother to notice.

"Is that a hut?"

Katara nodded. "We kept the original huts and tents as a kind of shrine to the hard times we persevered through. Respecting those how died so we could be free," Katara ground out through clenched teeth.

"How… primitive."

"I think you'll be surprised to see what it looks like behind the gates, Hahn," Katara said demurely. "I put my heart and soul into shaping and forming it."

"I'm sure that it will be lovely," Hahn droned, checking out Katara again. "But true beauty can only be found in the North." Hahn jumped when Nuluka's low, throaty growl sounded. Nearby traders, diplomats and servants all turned.

"Nuluka," Katara hissed, bobbing down to calm Nuluka. _Lovely? Lovely? How old does he think I am, seven?_

"I have no doubt about that, Warrior Hahn. Master Katara always had a way with ice that put even the greatest of our Fire Nation artisans in their place."

_Oh Spirits…_

Katara's spine chilled suddenly, and her skin prickled. The voice washed over her like the calming waters of a still bay. It was scratchy and warm, reminding Katara of Nuluka's warm pelt in the middle of winter. Comfort and safety.

"Do you see your artisans so lowly, Firelord Zuko?" Hahn asked politely, his tone friendly and light but laced with something that made Katara want to slap him.

"Quite the contrary, Warrior Hahn," Zuko's liquid fire voice made her shiver, "I have just always believed that true beauty is something that only the Lady Izunnami could create."

"Zuko!" Sokka crowed, breaking all tradition and etiquette. Katara continued petting Nuluka, avoiding eye contact with the Firelord. "It's been way to long, man!"

"It couldn't be helped, Sokka," Katara heard Zuko reply as she dug her fingers deep into Nuluka's fur. "The Fire Nation has been in political upheaval. I've been throwing out crooked and cheating politicians and High Court, fighting against assassins and trying to make peace with the Ozai and Azula supporters. It hasn't exactly been a walk in the park."

Katara's heart clenched and she felt her stomach churn with fear at the thought of assassins after Zuko. What if one had gotten lucky? What if one had managed to poison his water or wine, or killed all his guards? What if they had… _succeeded?_

"Toph has been keeping everybody informed. I feel for you, I really do, but I couldn't care less. You didn't send fire flakes! You promised to send fire flakes!"

"Funny story. I was out in the market square buying your fire flake when three Ozai supported ambushed me and my bodyguards. Two of them died trying to protect me, the third was dangerously injured and I ended up having to kill the Ozai supporters in front of my people. I lost your fire flakes amongst all the flames and screaming."

Katara didn't think that was a very funny story.

"We heard of that incident up in our Northern City, Firelord Zuko. We have been grieved to hear of your struggles over the past two years," Chief Arnook said.

"My people thank you for your sympathies, Chief."

"Yes. It's such a shame that so many have died trying to kill you."

Sokka and Katara's head snapped up to stare at Hahn as he and Zuko stared at each other. Katara couldn't believe it. How dare he say that about **her Zuko**? How dare he be so callous? Did Hahn want Zuko dead? Is that what he thought the best solution would be?

Katara heard his blood call to her and realised she was losing control quickly.

"Wasn't I about to send for someone to escort you through the city?" Sokka asked through clenched teeth as he tried to remain calm. Katara chanced a glance at Zuko Katara and saw him standing impassively like this conversation was about the weather and not his death. She felt her heart clench and the strange hurricane inside her spin faster and faster.

Zuko's golden eyes found her and Katara decided she needed to escape now. "Follow me, gentlemen. I will be your guide today." She gave a hasty and messy curtsy-bow thing to Zuko. "Nuluka. Come."

xZxKx

Katara avoided people in general for the rest of the day. And the day after. Whenever she saw a flash of red, she ducked and ran the opposite direction. She didn't want to see Zuko. It broke her heart, knowing what she did. The trader's voices echoed around her head, bouncing around her skull. She hadn't slept properly in weeks, nightmares of the trader's whispered voices and his beautiful, scratchy voice as he said _I do_ to someone else.

It was the officially opening dinner of the Peace Summit when she finally saw him again.

Right after Hahn announced his proposal of marriage. With her.

All eyes had turned to Katara as Hahn stood before her, on one knee, clenching another betrothal necklace in his fist. Sokka went stiff beside her and her father stood frozen on the dais at a loss for words. Everyone in the hall waited with baited breath, looking at her.

"I…"

Someone giggled in the crowd.

"I…"

Hakoda implored her with his face, his mouth forming the two simple words silently.

"I…"

She was like a wild animal as she scanned the crowd. She searched for red and saw it stand up slowly from its seat.

Then she ran.

She didn't stop until she reached the old Moon Temple and collapsed by the fountain as the light splayed above her head.

She still couldn't cry. Why couldn't she cry?

_Katara._

"Mum, where are you?" Katara cried out to the lights above her. "Mum, why aren't you here? Why is this happening? Why can't I cry?"

_Katara._

"Why won't he love me, mother? Do I not deserve happiness? Is it my destiny to marry Aang? To marry some man I have never met before because it's what other people want? Every time I try to speak, no one hears my voice. They don't hear what I am saying."

_Katara!_

The voice came from the heavens, from somewhere far beyond the place she was. A tingling warmth shivered through her in a single instant, beckoning, summoning, pleading with her, so strong that her first impulse was to jump up and reach the lights in the water.

"Mum?"

_Katara, my child. My sweet, sweet baby… _

"Mum, is that really you?"

_Katara, my love, I am so sorry…_

"It wasn't your fault mum. I couldn't save you. I couldn't…"

_I don't have long. Time runs both slower and faster where I am. But, your voice reached through the Veil that separates the dead form the living. The Spirits watch you and weep my brilliant daughter. But they are forbidden from interfering with the ways of mortals_. But they watch you. They watch all you have done, they see all you have sacrificed and they feel all that you feel. And they are sorry…

"Mum…"

_Life is not fair. Life is cruellest torment a Spirit can create. It is pain and suffering and death and weakness and torturous sacrifice. But it is beautiful with love. Know that I love you, Katara, even when you think no one does…_

"Mum?"

_I love you Katara. Always know that. But life is short and you can't stay in the past. You need to move forward, you need to be brave and take chances, because you only get one life and it is so very short…_

"Don't go. Don't leave me here again, mum! Please! Mum! Mum? Mummy?!"

_We are with you Katara. When you feel alone, look to the lights – to the stars – and know that we are here…_

"Katara?"

She spun around, heart pounding, chest heaving, bones aching, heart racing, soul crying. Nuluka stood beside Zuko, in the mouth of the doorway, sitting quietly by his feet. The great wolf looked over her mistress once, snorted, and turned around to stalk back outside.

Katara hiccupped and started shaking. "Katara..?"

He was here. Zuko was here, with her, right now, she wasn't dreaming, wasn't imagining, he was here.

Her bottom lip trembled. "What.."

"Why did you run?" He demanded, staying half in the shadows of the doorway. Katara wanted to see him. It was a need, desperate, like thirst in a desert or food in famine. It was instinctual and ancient. "Why did you leave?"

"Hahn… I couldn't… he asked… I don't… I love you…"

Katara breathed in sharply, realising what she had said a moment to late, and started hyperventilating. Zuko started his alarm almost palpable. She fell to her knees – his closeness, his voice, his presence all too much.

He was by her side so quickly, wrapping her in his arms, giving her his heat. His scent – spices and smoke and summer assaulting her senses; a dangerous drug to her already erratic mind. "Katara, follow my breathing. Easy, Katara, easy. Don't push it, stay with me, just breath with me."

She couldn't. He was electricity. She slid a hand in between the folds of his shirt and pressed it against his hot skin, right over the scar he had gotten for her. She heard his breath catch when her cold touched his heat.

"I can't marry him."

"I get it Katara. I understand. Just breathe with me, Katara, please."

"You can't get it. I can't marry him."

"No, I get it –"

"I can't marry Hahn. I can't marry anyone.

"Katara…"

"You don't get it! You can't understand! If you knew, then you wouldn't be here!"

"Fine then," His breath was heated against her are neck. She nuzzled her face in the crock of his neck and shoulder, breathing him in. His breathing was becoming unsteady – form anger and something else. "Explain it to me Katara. Why can't you marry Hahn? Why can't you marry any of the other men?"

"Because I love you."

He froze against her and started to pull away. Katara reached out for him, greedily and frantically trying to keep him for just a little bit longer…

"What did you say?"

She twisted an arm around his waist and moved back into his lap, like a small child after a nightmare. She embraced him because she knew that any second he would leave and she would never see him again and she couldn't stand that thought.

"You. I love you and no one else. Not Aang. Not any of those Kings or lords or generals. You. Zuko."

He was still and she titled her face up to find him staring at her. "You love me?"

"Every day since you left I have died. I don't know what I would do if you left again…"

"I won't." His arms slipped around her, bringing her closer than ever. It was like he was trying to merge them together, trying to make her apart of him. "I've loved you since forever and I won't ever let you go now that I know you feel the same." He pressed a scorching, burning, feverish kiss to her head. Then another and another and another. He peppered her with kisses and she felt like she was in Heaven.

"Agni, Katara. I love you so much but was so afraid you…"

_You need to move forward, you need to be brave and take chances, because you only get one life and it is so very short…_

xZxKx

"Zuko, how did you find me?" She lay wrapped in his arms, his heat, naked except for his betrothal necklace around her neck as the lapping, soothing waves of the ocean carried her to the Fire Nation.

"I heard… something. I thought it was the wind, but it wasn't. It was a thousand voices, telling me to find their daughter. I just… listened. And there you were." He placed a kiss to her bare neck and nuzzled the mark he had left there. "What was it?"

Katara turned around and slid into his arms – her home. "My people."

* * *

A/N: Longest ZUTARA WEEK to date! I really enjoyed writing this one, but, unfortunately, as I wrote I kept creating and imagining new scenarios and situations, new story lines and plots. A full-out novel was developing, so I had to bite the bullet and belt it out. Because of this, I am not entirely happy with the ending. Is it OOC (for Katara) or in character considering her situation? Would Sokka mature enough to became a fierce leader by eighteen? Would Hakoda really force Katara to marry because of pressure? Al these questions thundered in my head like a raging herd of wild horses.

In the end, I just went with what felt right. Katara threatening a King's balls felt right. Katara wanting to freeze Hahn felt right. Katara running out of that dining room felt right. Her slightly hysterical discussion and admission to Zuko after speaking to her dead mother felt right. Nuluka felt right. Throughout the story, I left little connections to actual canon events. As previously stated in the Authors Note for EUPHORIA, I don't think the Avatar World would have suddenly become peaceful. I believe that Aang would have vanished off the face of the earth in search of airbenders and the Fire Nation would have been in slight turmoil as Ozai/Azula supporters battled it out against Zuko supporters. I also believe that toph would have spent a lot of time in the Fire Nation with Zuko (who I think she has a brother/father bond with).

I dunno, Toph/Zuko brother/sister and father/daughter bond just feels right to me. In A:TLA Toph really took to Zuko. And Zuko really took to her. No passionate love or anything. Just a very platonic and deep friendship for two rich children who were brought up in society's and house's that had certain expectations of them. Katara, Sokka, Aang, Jet etc etc didn't have that.

Anyway, next up is GRAVITY, which I made a Modern Day A/U in which Katara and Zuko are HIgh School students...

Please** Read and Review! And check out my other stories!**

**- **EIS


	4. Gravity

**Gravity, A Zutara Week 2013 Story**

******Title: Gravity, A Zutara Week 2013 Story**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Words:** 4,000  
**Pairings:** Just look at the title…_  
_**Summary: **Katara Woolf just wants to swim. But gravity brings her Zuko Agni and everything changes…  
**Authors Note:** Welcome to Day 4 of Zutara Week. I have decided that all these stories will be from Katara's POV (third person limited), except for two (tentatively). This is my FIRST Zutara Week, so if these stories are longer than normal, let me know! Day 4 is inspired by a wonderful Anime from Studio Ghibili called** From Up On Poppy Hill**! PIck the references!  
**Disclaimer:** Bryke (Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko) and Nickelodeon own EVERYTHING. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them.

* * *

**Playlist:  
** _Flirting With Disaster_, The Young and Beautiful  
_Move On Me_, Fink

_So Close_, Olafur Arnald ft Arnor Dan

* * *

gravity (noun): The force that attracts a body toward the centre of the earth, or toward any other physical body having mass

gravity (noun): Seriousness or solemnity of manner

* * *

**Gravity**

Lunch time was pretty easy going. Katara packed her own lunches (her version of chicken Caesar salad in a Tupperware box with an apple and a bottle of water), and her brothers, so she never had to worry about the line in the canteen.

"Did you hear how the Parents Council wants to take down the old Avatar Building?" Suki asked, twirling spaghetti around on her fork carelessly as she stared wistfully out over the quad to where Katara's brother, Sokka, sat with his bunch of idiot friends.

"Why do they want to take down the Avatar Building?" Yue asked, pushing her lunch away distastefully.

"It's a hazard and an eyesore, apparently."

"But it's such an important part of our schools history! And it's still the on-campus Boys Dormitory and unofficial official boy's clubhouse. They can't do that, can they?"

"Apparently, they can."

"Did you hear!?" Toph screamed, storming through the sea of students littering the quad. They parted away from her like she was venomous. Toph was all of five feet tall, yet half of Katara's school were afraid of her.

This may have had something to do with the fact that Toph was the International Champion in her age's cage fighting group...

"Hear what?" Aang asked, coming over to drop into the spare seat beside Katara. She resisted the urge to groan and politely smiled at the star-crossed boy. Behind him, the rest of Katara's friends – Duke, Teo, Haru, Pip and Sokka – gathered around the table, crowding around. Occasionally, Bee and Lon Sho would chill with them as well.

They were the popular ones. They were the group that everyone else wanted to be. Katara was the Swim Champion with a bright future as a nurse. Bee was the protégé in gymnastics. Duke was the up and coming journalist. Teo was the genius. Suki was the cheerleading captain. Yue was the Pageant Princess who actually did have a heart, the one that would go on to save the world. Lon Sho was the Olympic silver medallist for archery (at only seventeen). Pip was a heavyweight boxing pro. Sokka was the leader, the athlete.

"They want to tear down the Avatar Building!" Toph yelled, throwing herself into the seat beside Yue.

"They want to _What_?" Sokka screeched right back, jumping on to the table top.

"They want to TEAR DOWN the Avatar Building!"

"They want to WHAT?"

"THEY WANT TO TEAR DOWN THE AVATAR BUILDING!"

"They want to-"

"Say it one more time and I will kill you," Bee said quietly, picking absently at her nails as she walked by towards her traditional table.

"But they can't do that! That place is history. Its home," Teo breathed.

"Wait," Yue said, "you didn't know?"

"I've been at that Technology Of the Future Event all week…" Toph and Aang launched into their detailed explanation of everything Teo had missed.

Suddenly, the windows of the Avatar building were thrown open, sending a curtain of dust down on the students gathered beneath the cooling shadow. The boys that called the Avatar building home hung out of the windows, cheering and howling.

"Attention students," Jet announced from the rooftop of the Avatar Building. "The board of directors and old men running our school have decided that this building isn't important enough."

Another boy appeared beside Jet. He was about the same height and build, with pale skin that contrasted against Jet's own golden tone. He nodded at Jet, whos tepped aside, and stood at the very edge of the rooftop. "The old men ruling our country want to move on into a future they have fashioned in the image they want. They don't want to remember our bloody past, and the men who lost their lives fighting the war that gave us freedom! The five teenaged heroes of the war decided destiny within these walls, and they want to take it away! We can't let this stand!"

He took a few steps backwards as Jet made a hand signal. Katara saw Bee and Lon Sho move through the crowd. Turning her eyes back t o the roof, she saw the second boy start running.

"Oh my god, he's jumping!" Katara yelled, her voice lost in the cacophony of the crowd. She got up hurriedly, pushing Aang out of the way, as Zuko Agni – the genius bad boy who was one of the richest men in the world – jumped off the top of the Avatar Building. Katara held her breathe as he cleared the cherry blossom trees scattered along the front of the Hall, cleared the veranda and landed in the muck filled lap pool in front. Katara pushed past the audience and raced to the pool, kneeling down and leaning over as she grasped the edge of the pool and scanned the pool-come-pond for any sign of life.

Zuko surfaced right in front of her, his hair sticking to his face, breathing heavily. Absently, Katara noted that he smelt like a wood fire, leather and summer.

"Are you alright?" She asked, offering a hand to the waterlogged boy. Katara – having known of Zuko Agni since she was thirteen – didn't once look at the scar that covered his left eye, temple and cheek.

"As I'll ever be," he intoned, taking her hand and pulling himself out.

"Smile for the camera, love birds!" Duke whooped, snapping a picture of Katara. She gaped like a fish, her eyes going wide. "Give her a kiss, Agni!" Before Katara could voice her objections, she felt a pair of burning lips on her cheek.

Stunned, she quickly jerked around to see Zuko smiling roguishly as Duke snapped another picture as he cackled happily. Outraged, she released his hand and watched in bitter amusement as Zuko fell back into the water with an _oomph_ and a splash.

She stood up, ignoring the catcalls and diabolical laughter, and stormed back to her table. "As if you didn't punch him!" Suki snapped, sending a glare at Sokka as he laughed uproarisly with Haru, Teo and Bee two tables over. Aang was silent as he watched Zuko get out of the pond (pool thing. It was so full of life Katara wasn't sure what it was).

"Get any good pictures, Duke?"

"You bet."

Katara drowned out their conversation, standing up and sweeping up her Tupperware container and water bottle. "I'll be training."

No matter how angry she was at Zuko Agni, she couldn't stop the blush that tinged her cheeks, or the tingly feeling that spread along her cheekbone.

xZxKx

The next time Katara came face to face with Zuko Agni was three days after the Kiss-And-Fall incident at lunch, on Friday after school.

"I have to go now, Suki!" Katara whined, tugging impatiently and a little anxiously on her duffel bag handle. "I can't keep Yue waiting much longer. The big meet is in less than two weeks, and I need to practice if I want prime relay position and…"

Suki slammed her locker door shut. "Just go, you loser." Katara sighed and gave her friend a thankful smile before turning around and flying down the bustling corridor. People parted for her like she was Queen, smiling and waving and being nice as she sprinted past. That was one thing Katara hadn't been able to get used to. The level of respect. The number of friends.

_And to think I didn't want to move here in the first place…_

"Watch out!" A senior screamed as he and another boy carried a particularly heavy looking shelf between the two of them. Katara jerked to the side, spinning around a full one hundred and eighty degrees. She paused, getting her balance, and laughed happily. She started running again and felt her foot get caught on someone's abandoned bag strap. Then, gravity took hold.

Katara fell down the front steps, heard the worried voices and everything sped up into double-time. She collided with another body and they spun, tumbling down the last two steps until they rolled safely into the grass on the front garden.

Breath heaving; Katara looked up into the patchwork face of Zuko Agni and froze beneath him mid-squirm. Zuko finally looked down at her, his golden smouldering eyes catching hers, and her breathe caught. _Like molten, breathing, living fire…_

"Gravity," Zuko's words were murmured so quietly, Katara strained to hear. And even then, she only caught a few disjointed words: _gravity, falling, bitch, Katara, Azula, hilarious._

_Since when was he this attractive. This… beautiful?_

_Wait, bitch?_

"Excuse me?" Katara half snarled, snapping back to herself in an instant. Zuko blinked owlishly (_adorably_, a small part of Katara's mind crowed) and his eyes narrowed. Katara could feel her eyes drift to the scar across his face.

"What the hell do you think you're staring at?" Zuko snapped, pushing away from her quickly and rolling off. Katara bit her lip when she realised he had positioned his face away from her.

"I'm sorry," Katara stuttered," I didn't mean to… I kind of just… well you see I… oppsie daisy?"

Zuko grunted in response. Blushing furiously, Katara scrambled up and played with her bag. Jet, Zuko's best friend and fellow bad boy, pushed through the crowd that had surrounded her and Zuko and stood with arms crossed and a malicious look in his eye.

"Everything all right here?"

Zuko glared up at the other boy. "Fine. Wonderful. Splendid."

"I wasn't talking to you," Jet turned to Katara and gave her a charming smile. "Are you all right, Katara?"

"Fine. Thank you."

"This idiot didn't hurt you?"

"What? No. It was my fault… I tripped down the stairs and fell into him. This guy had left his bag in the middle of the steps and I dodged the cabinet... He actually broke my fall. It was very nice of him, actually. Considering that I fell into him and all." Katara was well aware that she was babbling. She was also well aware that Zuko was staring at her, a hooded look in his eyes that made her blush and shiver all over. It was a hot and cold feeling. And Katara liked it more then she had liked anything before.

"Katara!" Yue screamed, jogging up across the grass towards her as she stood idiotically between Jet and Zuko. Yue bobbed down, collecting the things that had fallen out of Katara's bag, and continued speaking, "Katara, you need to be more careful. You could seriously injure yourself or somebody else badly if you pull another or similar stunt like this."

Katara felt her cheeks flaming. She flickered her eyes up and saw Jet staring at Yue strangely. And Zuko with a similar look on his face as he watched her.

"I'm sorry…"

xZxKx

The second time Katara talked with Zuko Agni was in her Senior AP Physics class. Katara was a sophomore and she had spent most of her time with Yue – a senior. It made things easier, because even though she was one of the **It Girls **she hated talking to absolute strangers.

Katara knew that she shared this class with Zuko – who was taking half of his classes at University all ready and preparing to take over the multi-billion dollar company he legally owned (and which he could legally claim when he was twenty-one) – but she had never been aware of him.

Until now.

"Probably the more correct version of the story is that Newton, upon observing an apple fall from a tree, began to think along the following lines…" Katara couldn't focus to a word that Mr Jeong Jeong was saying. Zuko was right next to her, because the idiotic teacher had assigned new partners after an incident between Jet and his partner (Lon Sho).

Now, Yue was with Jet and she was with Zuko.

Jeong Jeong sets the worksheet and leaves the class to their own devices as he opens his laptop and continues to type his theses. Katara sits silently, stewing over her own stupid emotions as her heart speeds up at the thought that she could reach and touch Zuko Agni right now. Whenever Zuko moves in his seat, she is hyper aware of his new position in her little world. Whenever he shifts she moves as well, half to get away from him so her stupid body doesn't do something stupid and half to make sure she has the best view of him possible.

"How have you been?"

Katara doesn't know how to reply to this innocuous question because it comes from Zuko.

"What?"

"I was just wondering how you have been since you smashed into me two weeks ago."

"Oh. Ah. Fine. Were you okay? I don't think I have ever hit someone so hard. And you had jumped off the roof earlier in the week. Why did you do that anyway? It was so stupid and reckless."

Zuko smirked and Katara's stupid heart fluttered. "I have taken harder hits before. And I jumped to make a point."

"Ever heard of a strongly worded letter?"

"This had more spark."

He shifted again and placed his forearms on the table, folding them in front of him so he could lean. Katara noticed a splotching of bright bruises and cuts along the length of skin she could see. Without meaning too, she reached out and ran a finger along the closest scar. "What happened?"

Zuko seemed to flinch out of her touch. "Gravity is a contributing factor in nearly seventy-five percent of all accidents involving falling objects."

"Do you fall often?"

"Never."

"Except when you jump from buildings, right?"

"I only fall when I mean too."

Katara wasn't satisfied and saw the deceit in him. "What about the other twenty-five percent of accidents?" She reached out and grasped his arm, tugging it to her and rolling up the sleeve.

He jerked away before she could roll up his jumper sleeve. "The fatal law of gravity is that when you are down, everything else will fall down around you."

Katara watched him. "Is that how you got your scar? Gravity?" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Katara regretted them instantly. Zuko closed up, his face going dark and angry. His fists clenched and his breath hissed out through his teeth.

"Zuko, I'm so –"

"Don't." He snarled. "Just don't."

xZxKx

The third time Katara actually spoke with Zuko Agni was at her swim met a week after she had asked about his scar.

She was doing a couple of practice lengths in the private school pool. Breaching, she grabbed the edge of the pool and hoisted herself up. She grabbed her towel and started working at her hair, knowing that she wasn't alone and that it was him behind her. They stared at each other in silence, Katara worrying her bottom lip as he stood, back straight and hands shoved deep in his well-fitted jeans pockets.

"Zuko…" Everything poured out. "I am so, so sorry. I was out of line last week. It's none of my business and…"

"Enough." Katara wanted to see his face, but it was hidden in shadow. "I don't have much time and waiting for you to stumble through a half-assed apology wastes to much of it." He rolled his shoulders, leather jacket crinkling. "Have you ever been in love?"

Katara blinked in astonishment. "Pardon?" She felt suddenly aware of her near nakedness. It had never bothered her before.

She heard Zuko growl and saw his outline move as he yanked off his jack and she felt it smack into her face. She slipped it around her shoulders as he watched her.

"I don't mean love at first sight or anything idiotic like that. What I mean is… have you ever felt gravity move. Like, when you see her, suddenly it isn't the earth holding you there anymore. And nothing matters more than just being around her and seeing her happy. When you're day isn't complete unless you see her – see her smile and laugh. When seeing her unhappy – especially at you – feels like a knife stabbing you right in the chest. When it's both a weakness and strength."

Katara didn't know what to say. "Zuko..?" In the distance, the clock above the Avatar Building chimed seven. Zuko seemed to stiffen. Katara noticed (she always noticed him). "Zuko?" Then he was in front of her and kissing her. His lips were hot and his breath was warm. Katara, in all her observations, had noticed that Zuko was always hot. He never felt the cold and he always looked perfect – to Katara anyway. So she had no idea why she shoved him away so harshly.

"What are you doing?"

Zuko's face closed and his impassive, angry mask settled over his features. "Something I've wanted to do for a very long time."

"You hate me! I hate you! Why would you want to do that?"

Zuko turned away as her chest heaved with each forced and excited breathe. "If it was your last day on earth, wouldn't you do the things you always wanted, be damned the consequences?"

Katara didn't say anything as Zuko walked away.

Twenty minutes later, Yue and Jet found her sitting on the edge of the pool, her feet dangling in the water.

"Katara? Katara, what are you doing her? You're race is coming right up."

"Yue," Yue and Jet stopped when they heard her broken, tormented whisper. "What does it mean when someone kisses you and then asks if you would do the same thing if it was your last night on earth?"

Jet inhaled sharply and both Katara and Yue noticed. "Jet?" Yue questioned, placing a hand on his shoulder. Jet ignored her and looked up at Katara.

"Was it..?"

"Yes," she whispered. Turning back to Yue, Katara asked again; "What do you think, Yue?"

Yue looked back and forth between Jet and Katara, her brow furrowed as she tried to connect the dots. "That he was leaving. That something terrible was happening to him. That he just wanted a kiss. I don't know Katara. Did he say anything else?"

Katara shook her head and buried her head in her folded arms. "I hate gravity."

Jet looked at her quizzically. "Gravity?"

"That's how he explained his reasons. Gravity."

Jet's face transformed into something of exasperation and frustration. And something like fear. "Gravitation can't be held responsible for people falling in love. How on earth can you explain it in terms of chemistry and physics anyway? Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. He hasn't stopped thinking of you. Hasn't stopped watching you. Hasn't stopped wanting to approach you. And now he does… and I think it was because it was his last opportunity." Jet's eyes widened. "His dad…"

Katara stood up, seeing his bruises flash before his eyes, seeing the scars along his wrists. A new kind of gravity settled over her as she realised that not all his scars had been inflicted by others. The other twenty-five percent trickled into her mind. Terrifying image after terrifying image. Then she saw his fallen jacket and felt gravity squish her heart and take her breath away.

"No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no."

Katara pushed against the tree and started running, stumbling, the unreal night playing with her, gravity pulling from below, behind, above, making her fall. And as she runs through a world that is rotating, conscious of the earth's spin, of the planet twirling as it careens through nothingness, of the stars spiralling above, of the uncertainty of everything, even ground, even sky. Yue never called out, Jet never denies. Although a thousand and one voices scream in her mind, sing, whisper, taunt her with madness she knows that all she wants is to kiss Zuko Agni again before he dies."

She knew where Zuko lived. Everybody did. Katara sprinted hard, cutting through the forest that backed the school and the Agni Mansion. Twin shadows caught her attention from the garage.

She found Zuko breathing shallowly beside the unconscious figure of his father. She went to him.

"Zuko…"

His eyes flickered open and Katara smelt burning flesh. His shirt was unbuttoned and burning. She ripped it off and found a star shaped burn in the middle of his chest. She made a sound and looked up to see Zuko batting away a branding iron.

"My father…"

"Out of it," she answered, running a hand over his chest as she cheeked for broken or fractured ribs.

Zuko sighed and nuzzled his face into Katara's bare shoulder. She felt her cheeks flush and tried again. "Zuko."

"My father gave me these scars. The one over my eye was the first. He held my face over an open fire place and watched me burn. I had spoken out against him in a private meeting with some terrible people. Even before that, though, ever since my mother died, I was taking the abuse, making sure my sister never saw that ugly side of him. That's been my life for five years…"

Katara felt her heart clench. "Zuko, stop it."

"No. Do you know what has kept me going, Katara Woolf? You. Your smile. The way you look at me, like I mean something in this world. Like you care about me. No one has ever really cared about me... and then, gravity took control and I was falling. I hit the ground when I kissed your cheek that day... and then, when you ran into me I wanted to do it again. But I didn't, because Azula is a possessive and insecure bitch. I love her anyway. This morning I overheard a conversation. Dad was finished with me. The company is going down because of his dealing under the table. My mother left her fortune to me and with the money from my trust-fund inaccessible to him, I have more than him. Far more. He was going to have me killed so the money reverted back to him… I couldn't call the cops. I couldn't let my sister be punished for my... then I saw you and I had to do something... Katara, you have to know that I lo... "

Suddenly, Zuko lurched up and slammed Katara into the expensive looking car. Stunned, she saw Zuko tackle his father to the ground and heard the clatter of a vicious looking hammer as it bounced away.

"You disappointment! You bastard! I should have killed you a long time ago." Ozai punched his son and straddled him. Zuko – dazed, bleeding – struggled. He managed to knock Ozai off. Before Ozai could lunge again, the doors burst open.

"Police! Freeze!"

xZxKx

Katara decided that this whole thing was his fault. It was his fault that she was here – holding his hand and peppering him with kisses as the school board announced the Avatar Building as a heritage site – instead of receiving the scholarship that would set her up for life. It was his fault, because he was the one who decided to jump of the roof and into the pool and it was his fault because he jumped off the roof and into her life.

Katara decided that gravity was the bitch ultimately responsible.

And that she didn't care.

Not one bit.

Because she also decided that she loved him too much to care. Because the thought of him out of her life was gravity pushing her to the ground and taking her breath and breaking her bones.

So what if her father was going to kill her? After he found her, crying over Zuko as his father was taken away, he had known and he hadn't been happy. The whole family was rotten. Criminal. They had done terrible things. Katara had argued vehemently. But, even when she had stared at the hospital ceiling as the machines kept Zuko going, she knew that her father would have to deal.

Zuko and his sacrifices were all that mattered. She wasn't going to let him bare his scars in silence anymore.

Because she loved him.

* * *

**A/N:** Ahhhhh... forlorn Zuko love and Katara denseness until the absolute last moment... gotta love it!

A modern day A/U for Zutara Week 2013! Yay!

I had a good time writing this. I wanted to incorporate gravity of earth and gravity of words into this, with a focus on gravity of earth. The last meeting with Zuko Agni was the gravity prompt for Zutara week. The rest was me having absolute fun! I like the idea of a series of circumstances and random accidents bringing two people together. I follow a similar idea in my Day 5: Bound ficlet (up tomorrow, my lovelies!).

In this A/U, we have Katara as an awesome swimmer and Zuko as the rebellious heir to a multi-national and powerful corporation, as well as the target of violent psychological and physical abuse. I like to think that Azula and Zuko would mend their relationship in A:TLA, so I have put a protective!Zuko spin on their relationship. I love Azula to bits and I am a violent Sokka/Azula fan (plus it explains why he has no kiddies in Korra!). Back to the topic, I also think that Jet and Zuko would be best brobuddies, fighting for equality and rights for all. They don't hate each other here, because their is no baddie Fire Nation killing Jet's family! In A:TLA, Jet and Zuko have very similar personalities and I think that they could have become great friends.

Yue. Yue is my LOVE! She gets a starring role in this, because I think that out of everyone she would understand Katara's feelings the most. Plus, she's just a ball of awesomeness! We also see some TOPH! Yay for TOPH! and puppy-dog Aang...

Hakoda would be a little against the idea of his **baby girl** being with an Agni, because of his position as a cop and Ozai's obvious bad apple nature, and the Agni family history as general nasty peps. He would come around quickly though, and take Zuko under his figurative wing. Zuko and Katara would struggle at first, as Zuko wold come into the company and deal with his demons, but they would get married and be AWESOME philanthropists and family people (Zutara kiddies! Squee!)

Anyway, check out House of Crows and...

**READ AND REVIEW!**

- EIS


	5. Bound

**Bound, A Zutara Week 2013 Story**

**Title: Bound, A Zutara Week 2013 Story**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Words:** 4,275 in total. But I don't know if I should have posted it in two parts…  
**Pairings:** Just look at the title…_  
_**Summary: **He had always entered her life running, appearing for a second before hadn't meant to fall in love. But that's what she did. And now, all she wants is to see him again.  
**Authors Note:** Welcome to Day 5 of Zutara Week. This is my FIRST Zutara Week, so if these stories are longer than normal, let me know! I am a bit divided about the ending of this ficlet... I wanted to divided it into two parts, because originally I ended it (where indicated). But then, I wanted Z and K to meet again so I wrote the ending. I'm not entirely sure if it works, or flows, or whatever. Thoughts would be very much appreciated.  
**Disclaimer:** Bryke (Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko) and Nickelodeon own EVERYTHING. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them.

* * *

**Playlist:  
** _Infinity, _The xx **PLAY THIS SONG AS YOU READ! YOU GET THE FULL EFFECT **

* * *

bound (verb): to walk or run with leaping strides

bound (noun): a boundary

bound (adjective): heading toward somewhere or restricted to a specific area

* * *

**Bound**

Katara changed schools when she was eleven. She had never been more scared in her life then when her Dad shut the door behind her and drove away, leaving Sokka to stand stunned beside her, a hand gripping hers in a tight death embrace. She had just made the move from the Southern Water Tribe (yes, Tribe – that hadn't won her nay brownie points) to Kyoshi Island Primary School within the past week and she hadn't settled into the community yet.

She twisted her braid around her free hand anxiously as she tugged on her second-hand-uniform from a nice lady called Yugoda, a friend of her Gran Gran's, who taught at the school, teaching health to the girl's class. Katara had liked Yugoda well enough, but she still dreaded the thought of classes.

She was never going to make friends if she continued to cling to Sokka. Sokka seemed to have the same thought and immediately let go of her hand like it was on fire and stormed over to their next door neighbour, a boy Sokka's age called Hahn.

Katara took one more glance back towards the street, silently hoping that she would see her father coming to pick her up because she would have rather been with him and Bato then here in this place. With no such luck, Katara started to walk towards the building. It was two times as big as the school in the Southern Water Tribe she should still be going to, but this one seemed scary probably because she didn't have someone to watch her back like she did back home.

The only good thing about this school was that it was set right against the bay. The water glistened in the sunlight, shimmering like a thousand crystals.

Katara took a deep breath and took measly one step before she was run down by some kid with deep black hair. She looked up and found a stunned kid wearing a High School uniform she didn't recognize. His face looked vaguely familiar, but Katara was sure she had never met him before.

He stared at her, a faint blush on his cheeks, and quickly jumped up. "Ah… I'm…"

"Nephew!" The boy looked up, his face transforming into something resembling relief, and chanced one quick look down at her. "Sorry," he muttered before bounding away.

Katara stood up, brushing herself off. She turned around and came face to face with a girl with auburn hair and bright eyes. The girl smiled at Katara and offered a hand.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"Sorry, about that kid. Most of the guys here are idiots, but I've never seen him before," the girl said, shrugging. "You're the new girl, right?"

"Katara."

"Let me show you the school," the girl grabbed Katara's hand and tugged her towards the building. Katara cast a quick look backward, but the boy was gone. "My name is Suki, by the way." Katara smiled, following Suki. She was unable to forget the boy. She decided that the boy had been kind of cute.

It was the first time she was interested in a boy.

xZxKx

Suki started dating Sokka when Katara was fourteen. She was in her second year of High School, a year eight student who didn't mean much to anyone. Suki was one of her only friends, along with a bald boy with tattoos called Aang. Aang was two years younger, but smart enough to skip up a grade and be a year seven.

Both Aang and Sokka were up-and-coming star athletes. Aang was a long distance runner, steeple chaser and hurdler. Sokka was on the swim team and the rowing squad. Sokka was also a pretty good javelin thrower and long jumper (Katara knew this was because of all the iceberg dodging they had had to do in the Southern Water Tribe when they were little). It was the day of the State championships, and Suki – who was in the high jump – had insisted that they come to watch Aang.

The sun was shining and a light breeze kept it from getting too hot. Katara didn't really mind. She loved track meets. She loved watching the runners. They were fast paced and intense. She was even starting to think about trying out next season.

"Why don't we talk about something else besides track?" Suki suggested as another race ended with a roar from the crowd.

"Like what?"

Suki gave Katara a look and she felt her stomach churn. "I don't know... boys?"

"Don't you have a boyfriend?" Katara asked, trying to avoid the question.

"His name is Sokka." Suki returned. "You and Aang are getting close…" Katara pouted. She hated this conversation already. "Aww, c'mon Katara. You are a beautiful girl; you could have a pick from any boy in the world. Aang is head over heels for you, and I know for a fact that Haru is as well. Come on, Katara. You haven't once told me that you like someone and I worry."

The bang of a gun and the roar of the crowd alerted Katara to the start of the first hundred metre final. Aang breezed through in second place and the students from her school and area went wild. Aang searched the crowd and gave an enthusiastic wave. Katara and Suki waved back and started descending down to the end of the track to see his medal presentation.

Aang had just been presented with his silver medal when the under seventeen age group gun sounded, louder than the cheering. The crowd started cheering wildly for a tall and lean raven haired boy. He was a blur as he ran, his shaggy hair flying. Katara watched him as he won by twenty metres. He bent down and pressed both hands to his knees for a few moments and then walked away like he was fine.

"Katara!" She jumped as Aang appeared in her line of vision, effectively blocking the other boy from view. "Did you see me, Katara? I was awesome! And I'm a year younger, and he still only beat me by a hundredth of a second!"

"You did well, Aang."

Aang and Suki continued to discuss Aang's awesomeness as Katara trailed along behind them. She stopped short when she heard another gun sound and moved toward the edge of the track again.

Steeple Chase.

The boys running seemed to glide over the first steeple, clearing it with ease. From where she sat, she couldn't really tell the boys apart, yet one stood out. He had a strong lead in front of everyone else; his raven hair flew back out of his face as he jumped the second steeple, revealing a horrible red scar across his left eye, cheek and temple. He jumped and crashed down into the water, his uniform sticking to his body. A ripped body; a hot body. His thin, white shirt was practically see-through; showing off a sick pack defined back and arms muscles. He was the under seventeen state champion.

Katara was irrevocably memorized by the way he ran, how he made it look so easy. He reminded her of the vigilante prowling the streets – the one called the Blue Spirit. They had the same effortless bound, the same lack of gravity as they moved through space_. I have always admired the Blue Spirit…_ Katara was snapped out of her daze by a fist connecting harshly against her shoulder in a solid punch. She turned around to see Aang and Suki watching her with expectant looks. Katara felt her red, flustered cheeks go scarlet and turned back around.

The first time he passed her, he didn't even notice. He seemed to be in deep concentration. The second time he did a double take and almost tripped over his own two feet. Katara felt her cheeks get hotter. The third time, he knew she was coming; he stared at her as long as he could see her. She wanted to look away or try to hide the blush that was creeping up on her face, but she held his gaze and smiled sweetly at him.

When her scarred boy cleared the finish line, the crowd went crazy. She vaguely heard the announcer screaming into the microphone. "_…And in an upstart for the record books, the sixteen year old defeats the under twenty-one reigning state champion and breaks the long-standing record!"_

"I can't believe that," Suki murmured. "He beat Bumi." Bumi was Suki's friend, a year twelve, and the _old_ state champion.

Suki turned to search for Bumi, Aang and Katara following behind, when Katara heard a vaguely familiar yell echo across the wild crowd. "Nephew!" Katara turned, trying to spot the face that the voice matched up with. _Why was it so familiar..? _"Nephew, you have a done a very great and honourable thing today! You should be proud!"

Another voice – younger, but still deep and strong – added, "Yeah man. You beat your PB by a full minute and ten seconds. That doesn't just happen."

"Let's just say, I saw something that made me want to win." A deep, scratchy voice that made her shiver with something decidedly pleasant. "I saw her, the girl from when I was…"

"Katara!" Sokka screamed right by her ear, dragging her away as her eyes meet molten gold across the crowd.

xZxKx

"Katara, we have to go!" Sokka shouted, as another part of a building collapsed. The earth quake had started as everyone was walking home or getting their stuff after their first day of a new year. Katara, now year nine, had been walking with Sokka, Aang, Suki and Teo.

It had come from nowhere. No warning. And the sky was falling. The thundering movements shattered through the ground, the school and the surrounding buildings, sending children sprawling and screaming everywhere. Aang was struggling with Appa, his huge Alsatian dog, and Suki was trying to help the wheel-chair bound Teo manoeuvre through the fast appearing rubble.

"Katara!"

"I'm coming!"

They stuck together, trying to find shelter, trying to find a safe place. People screamed and shouted; the sound a demonic cacophony that would haunt her dreams. A group of other students form their school appeared. "Sokka! Suki! Katara!" Song shouted, weaving through a crush of people as Haru, Bee and Long Shot followed closely behind her.

"What are we going to do?" Song whispered, panic clear on her face. Haru placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and looked up at Katara. "Are you alright?" He asked, flicking his eyes up and down her figure. Katara knew that she was covered in dust and sweat and rock, but she didn't really care. She had never liked Haru that way, even if he liked her.

"Fine." Another crash as a huge piece of an old building tumbled to the ground. Katara wobbled, but regained her balance. Suki was clutching Sokka and Aang had calmed Appa enough to start helping Teo. Suddenly, a thought occurred to Katara and her eyes widened as fear spun in her stomach. "Where are Toph, Pip and Duke?" She asked spinning around and searching the crowd.

"Duke is with Pip," Teo said his face a mask of fear, "and Toph had an extra class in the temple…"

A thundering crack broke the cacophony around them. Katara froze, eyes glued to the horizon where she saw the top of a traditional temple tower start crumbling down. Then she was running, leaving her friends behind, as she searched for Toph. She had never run so fast. Her feet took her around the rubbish and brick, to the temple.

"Toph!" Katara yelled, coughing as the dust in her lungs mingled with the dust in the air. "Toph?"

Thunder sounded above Katara and she was flying. Iron arms wrapped around her waist and cradled her to a solid chest, curling her up into a ball as they flew through the air. When they hit the ground, the body was beneath her. Rolling, they came to a stop, Katara on the bottom.

Panting, Katara propped herself up. She twisted around and a frightening face met her own. She gasped, taken aback by the white fangs and blue mask. Then, she relaxed into the strong embrace. "Blue Spirit…" The vigilante nodded, loosening his hold, but not releasing her. Katara felt her cheeks flame as she realised that whoever the hero was, he had one fantastic looking body.

"Thank you…" She managed to whisper, cheeks flushing.

Another crack sounded and she looked up, her neck snapping painfully, to see a huge crack spreading along the roof of what remained of the old temple. The Blue Spirit nimbly got up in one deft movement, pulling Katara up less gracefully and tugging her along behind him as he dodged around falling debris and rubble.

"Katara!" Katara's heart sped up as her eyes widened and her gut clenched. Fear rippled along her spine. The Blue Spirit felt the change and tightened his hold.

"Let me go!" Katara wrenched free of the Blue Spirit's grasp. He grabbed her again. "My friend… she's in there and she can't see." Katara hiccupped, panicked. "Oh Spirits. She can't see. I have to get her. I have to help her. Toph? Toph? Toph!"

She snapped around to face the Blue Spirit. His mask was focused intently on her, unwavering. She felt tears prick in her eyes and a single sob escaped her lips. Then he vanished.

Katara sprinted towards the rubble wall that separated her from the sound of Toph's voice. Desperately, she fell to her knees and started shovelling what she could away. Her nails broke, her palms bleed. She never stopped calling for Toph. But Toph didn't call back.

"Toph!" She screamed. Above her, a crack echoed through the shaking room. Katara stood up quickly, her head snapping up to look at the ceiling. The crack that had been growing since she had arrived was finally breaking the roof. And the floors above it. Rumbling. Thundering. A huge slab of intricately carved declining broke away, falling right on top of her. She lurched to her feet and threw herself away.

It crashed behind her, breaking into a hundred pieces. A solid piece connected with her shoulder and she twisted, crashing on the ground. She hissed, grasping it as she pulled herself up. Dust fell like a heavy sheet of rain, hurting her eyes. She couldn't see a door.

She mindlessly ran in a direction. She saw the door, saw the roof and wall above it cracking and starting to crumble. She wasn't going to make it. Footsteps behind her, then she was in arms, cradled to chest like she was a bride. The Blue Spirit was fast and strong. He sprinted, bounded towards the door. The ceiling broke.

He threw her through the open doorway, following close behind in a somersault-come-army roll. Katara's whole body shuddered as she hit the ground, her shoulder burned in objection. Dazedly, she blinked, struggling up. A strange sound pierced her thoughts and she looked to see a blue mask skidding along the floor.

Her eyes snapped up and met burning gold.

"I know…"

"Your friend is safe." A deep, scratchy voice that made her shiver with something decidedly pleasant.

He stood up, walking towards his mask. He wouldn't look at her again. He crouched down on his hunches. She saw his face – just as beautiful and tortured as she remembered – pull in a wince. He picked up his mask and brushed dust off it.

"You were there at the track."

The mask went on. "Tell nobody that you saw my face, Katara."

"How do you know my name?" But he was gone. Leaving her with the butterflies that only he could tame. And the knowledge that he was it for her.

**xZxKx  
xZxKx**

**(Where I would have cut it into two)**

"Welcome to Agni Kai Global," the tour guide – a bright, bubbly, big-bosomed girl called Ty Lee – chirped as she led Katara and the other interns through the majestic hallways of the world's biggest company. Finely and expensively dressed women and men moved around them, ducking into offices, escorting very important looking people into well-dressed rooms with enticements of tea and coffee.

Katara had graduated a month ago, top of all her classes with the title of valedictorian to her name and a state swimming record. Agni Kai Global had accepted her into their summer internship program. She was hoping to have a job in the public system – a liaison, in particular, dealing with the other vigilante heroes who had appeared in the wake of the first modern day Robin Hood. Koh. Wan Shi To. The Freedom Fighters. The Painted Lady.

The Blue Spirit.

Her dark angel.

This was the first step in a Katara's Big Plan. And she was determined to take a whole succession of them. Admittedly, she would have loved to be teacher – a Sifu, as Aang had taken to calling all the teachers at school. It had caught on, and by her graduation, a new generation was ready for the Sifu's.

"Here at Agni Kai Global, we focus on a better future. Some of you may have heard of the succession of our current CEO and President, Mr Agni. Our previous CEO and President, Ozai Agni, nearly ran our company into the ground. But Mr Agni took over and now we are the powerhouse of the world, helping war reliefs and third world countries build schools, supplying good teachers as well…"

A door in front of them crashed open, and a tall man with golden skin and a piece of grass between his lips herded a group of paparazzi out, scolding and threatening them. "You know that Mr Agni doesn't allow pictures! Why do you keep coming back! We will sue, and we will win! Azula Agni is the best lawyer in the country!"

The paparazzi were like a group of seagulls, chattering and squawking indignantly at each other as they fought for the hot chip – or in this case, Zuko Agni's photograph. Katara sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

When the last pap was forced out the door, the tour guide, Ty Lee, bounced up to the wheat-man. "Jet!" She squealed, gesturing for the group of interns to follow. "This is the new set of interns for the summer. Interns, this is Jet Rebel, Agni Kai Global's head of security." She clapped her hands in applause, the group following slowly.

"Ty Lee…" amusement leaked into his voice and he shook his head. His eyes swept over the interns, and settled on Katara. She shifted uncomfortably. "Who are these two brave ladies?"

Katara coughed, realising she was the only female besides Jin, from the Earth Kingdom. She had boobs as big as Ty Lees, and a brilliant smile. "Jet, meet Jin Yakamana and…" Ty Lee flipped open her folder, shifting pages around until she found the list of names. "Katara Kiri."

Jet's eyebrows shot up into his shaggy hair. Recognition flashing in his eyes. "Kiri…"

Suddenly, a door opened at the end of the hallway and a small entourage of people entered. Two were female – both thin and regal in appearance, high cheekboned and aristocratic. The shorter of the two had a look of complete self-assurance, all sharp eyes and full-lips. The taller of the two looked sullen and impassive, with a blunt fringe and two hairbuns. She held a screen in her hand and was tapping away. A very tall man had his back to Katara and was shaking hands with a pair in business suits and another regal-looking girl; all were of Northern Tribe descent. Jet stood a little straighter when he noticed the dark skinned girl and excused himself. She heard Ty Lee snicker into her palm.

"We are honoured to be working with Agni Kai Global on this endeavour, Mr Agni. MoonCorp is grateful for all your assistance."

"Thank you, Arnook. My brother and I are grateful to have you as a part of our… e_xtended_ family."

"The pleasure is ours, Azula," the girl said.

Suddenly, Katara recognised her.

"Yue?"

All eyes focused on her. Yue Moon, her close friend from High School and Sokka's ex, smiled brightly and rushed to her, face beaming. "Katara Kiri, is that really you?"  
She squealed, pulling Katara into a tight hug. They laughed giddily, swaying from side to side. "What on earth are you doing here? I haven't seen you since I was sixteen and now here you are at Agni Kai Global."

Katara nodded, hugging Yue back just as tightly. "I'm applying for the summer internship."

Yue grinned, nodding happily, before gasping into her palm. She blushed, her face half mortified and half frightened. She dropped her grip on Katara and whispered, "Did I just ignore the most powerful man in the world?"

"He doesn't mind." A deep, scratchy voice that made Katara shiver with something decidedly pleasant said from behind her.

She froze up, a deer in lights, her heart speeding up as her mind screamed denials at her. She turned around slowly, vaguely recognizing that Yue had started talking to _Mr Zuko Agni_ and his sister, Azula. She closed her eyes briefly and took a calming breathe before looking at…

The Blue Spirit. The State Champion.

"…And this is my old friend, Katara Kiri. Katara, this is Zuko Agni, CEO and President of Agni Kai Global." His molten gold eyes met hers, smouldering and burning with something that made her all kinds of excited. His scar was still a harsh mark on his face, but she didn't care. His hair was falling in his eyes and Katara really wanted to brush it away, run her fingers through it. When he gave her a small smile, offering a hand to shake, his voice brushed over her and she lost it.

"Hey," breathed Katara. Blinking, mortified and nervous, she cleared her throat and tried again. "Um... I guess I should congratulate you," she said. His eyebrow lifted in curiosity and she felt the intruding stares of everyone on her. "We met when I was fourteen… you broke the state under twenty one record… and won the internationals." Katara nervously started twisting her hairloopie around her finger, feeling small and childish and drunk on the presence she had craved for years. "Congratulations on the exceptional achievement." Then she remembered where she was and who he was (beside the Blue Spirit). "And on the merger and success of your company. Cudos."

_Cudos? Cudos? Brain meet my mouth. Mouth meet my Brain. Now that every knows each other, let's go crawl into a hole together._

_Zuko_ smiled again. "Well, yeah, I guess it is..."

"Well... I- I better go... ah… Ty Lee was in the middle of a tour... she wanted to go... I'm applying for your summer internship program…" Katara turned to Yue and saw her making goo-goo eyes at Jet. Forgetting all about her embarrassment and Zuko Agni's general hotness, she scoffed to herself and mumbled _unbelievable_.

"Yeah," Zuko Agni chuckled lightly, taking all of Katara's attention again. "I get what you mean. I have to deal with it at every meeting, diner and party. It's ridiculous." Katara laughed breathlessly as Jet made a rude gesture at Zuko. Katara sneakily pinched herself. Yue smiled bashfully at Katara and flickered her eyes between she and Zuko. Katara gave her a look back and they had a silent conversation.

"Ty Lee," Zuko called, breaking through Katara's thoughts, "I'll be borrowing Miss Kiri for Miss Moon. Is that going to be a problem?"

"Not at all!" Ty Lee squealed, bouncing on her feet. "As long as she gets the tour!" Katara had no time to intrude before Ty Lee vanished. She gaped after her for a few moments and awkwardly focused back on the love of her life. They were alone.

And she was hyperventilating quietly.

Zuko noticed her distress and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you with me Katara? I need to talk to you and I would rather you be completely conscious."

Katara snapped her head up to look him in the eye. "Can I sit down?" Her voice was small. Zuko nodded, taking her hand and leading her into a spare meeting room. A gossamer window overlooked the bay. He helped her into a seat and knelt down beside her, offering a cup of water. For the minutes he knelt in front of her, rubbing a soothing hand over her back, as she tried to calm down. Finally, when he was satisfied that she wasn't about to faint, he spoke.

"You never said anything," Zuko stated, voice low and husky, eyes imploring and searching for something Katara didn't realise she was hiding.

"About what?"

"The Blue Spirit."

"You saved my life. I wasn't going to betray that trust you placed in me. And I remembered you, from the race that day. And I didn't want to hurt you. I _don't _want to hurt you. Ever. As long as I live…"

"Why?"

Katara blushed. "What you said to –I'm guessing it was Jet and an uncle, or something – about me, that day. That you saw me…"

Zuko sighed, running a hand through his shaggy hair. "It was true. Don't ask why, because I couldn't and still can't explain it, but when I saw you all I could think about was finishing the race so I could, talk to you. Then you were gone anyway and I thought I had lost my chance. Then I saw you when the earthquake struck and I panicked. You were willing to risk it all for someone and I hated the thought that you might succeed…"

"Really?"

"Really."

"Why?"

"Because you… since my scar… you just looked at me like I was human… like I was normal… like you…" He was silenced by Katara's lips crashing to his. It was nice, soft, but quick. As soon as Katara kissed him, she pulled back.

"Sorry! I am so sorry…"

He silences her with a stronger, warmer, passionate kiss. "Don't be. I've waited four years."

Her happiness blinded her from pretty much everything around her, including the arrival of Ty Lee (with tour group in tow), Madame Gothic Secretary, Azula Agni, Jet Rebel and Yue Moon.

* * *

**A/N:** I am a bit divided about the ending of this ficlet... I wanted to divided it into two parts, because originally I ended it (where indicated). But then, I wanted Z and K to meet again so I wrote the ending. I'm not entirely sure if it works, or flows, or whatever. But, I dunno, I needed something more for this. I hated making Zuko leave because of his secret. In the canon of this fic, he has been "following" her for a while, because he is trying to get her Police Detective Awesome-man Dad to lock away his father. He knows of her and has run into her a few times. He has little-big crush.

Anyway, Thoughts on whether I made the right decision in keeping the ending in would be very much appreciated.

Originally, I was going to do a little something about a friendship between Katara and Zuko and the Gaang and Trio and Freedom Fighters. The girls (Suki, Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, Bee) would be talking about experience and Katara would be teased for having no experience (or, Katara wants to be with a boy, but scared because she doesn't know what she is doing). Zuko would offer to help - teach her - and then the boundaries they set to protect themselves and their friendship would start to shatter as Zuko got jealous and Katara got guilty (for being with someone other then Zuko)... Yeah.

In the end, I came up with two scenes: a young, scarless Zuko running into a younger Katara AND Katara getting a major crush on a hot runner (who just happened to be Zuko) and then him noticing her by the sidelines and asking for a kiss when he won the race and broke a few records. he owul dbe sweaty, hot and wet from water somehow...

Anyway, I have some little notes

Yes. It was Zuko who ran into her when she was eleven, Zuko who grabbed her attention as a fourteen year old, and Zuko who saved her from falling debris a la Southern Raiders. Zuko does a lot of running in his fic (bound - a large step).

I really liked the idea of snapshots of Katara life, all centring around a boy who was always running, and I love the Blue Spirit, so that fit perfectly. I like to think that Sokka did date Yue and Suki, but fell out with Yue because of their differences - maturity, social standing, personality. Plus, I love the idea of Yue/Jet (and Yue/Lu Ten!). I always saw Katara and Yue as BFF's, much better friends then Katara/Suki. I don't know why. I like Suki as a character, but Yue... well, YMMV, but oh well.

In this Universe, Ozai was a big prat. I see him getting the boot and being locked away (or dying in a freak boating accident) and Azula/Zuko taking over his company. Mai and Ty Lee and Jet would be chilling. I also see Uncle Iroh taking Jet in when he and Zuko first met (when they are about fourteen/fifteen). Their would be tensions - Zuko feeling insecure, Jet being suspicious because of the scar - but they would have a massive fight and vent said tension and then be like brothers or the closest friends possible. The two boys become very, very close because they have similar ideals/goals and... interests, but differences of beliefs. Make of that what you will... I sure as hell like to think they experimented and share quite a bit growing up. That they know each other as well as Katara/Yue will soon know them... Muwhahahahahaah.

Katara and Zuko start dating, Katara becomes a teacher instead of a Public Liaison (because she found her hero by accident, and she only wanted that specific job to met the Blue Spirit again). Their will be shenanigans and issues - Katara being a Jealous Jellyfish with all Zuko's other girls (she never dated anyone else before Zuko) and Zuko being a bit reckless as the BS. They would work through it. Zuko is nearly killed on a job and the shock makes him propose. She is 21 and he is 24. Wedding bells are heard in the EVENT OF TEH CENTURY (think the Royal wedding) as Zuko Agni and his blushing bride marry alongside Heiress Yue Moon and her silent-type-rebel. The Agni's have a daughter and a son (yay! twins) a year later. And live happily ever after in a huge house with Iroh/Jun, Jet/Yue and Azula/Sokka...

Note how awesome I am, getting at least all the main canon characters in (the cameo at the end with Yue-Arnook-Hahn was also gong to include an entrepaneur for a little company called CabbageCorps...). We see Suki, Aang, Sokka, Toph, Teo, Duke, Pip, Long Shot, Bee, Song and Jin! I even got BUMI in their! GO ME!

You need to check out **INFINTY by THE XX** to fully get this fanfic. Listen to it while reading and you will understand. Here are the lyrics:

After all the time  
After you  
Had you seen me with someone new  
Hanging so high for your return  
But the stillness is a burn  
_(Their first and second meetings)_

Had I seen it in your eyes  
There'd have been no try after try  
Your leaving had no goodbye  
Had I just seen one in your eyes  
_**(Zuko's daring rescue as his alter ego)**  
_  
I can't give it up  
To someone else's touch  
Because I care too much  
I can't give it up  
To someone else's touch  
Because I care too much  
(_Katara's feelings in the time after Zuko's recuse and her enlightenment_)

Could you tell  
I was left lost and lonely  
Could you tell  
Things ain't worked out my way  
(_Katara's feelings in the years between and when she sees him again_)

Wish the best for you  
Wish the best for me  
Wished for infinity  
If that ain't me  
(**_Zuko's feelings about Katara - The SPEECH OF CONFESSION_)**

I can't give it up  
To someone else's touch  
Because I care too much  
I can't give it up  
To someone else's touch  
Because I care too much

I can't give it up  
To someone else's touch  
Because I care too much  
I can't give it up  
To someone else's touch  
Because I care too much

[Repeat x8]  
Give it up  
I can't give it up

**READ AND REVIEW!** (I hope to get at least 20-25 by the time Zutara week is over... I refuse to take bets, because I have crappy luck *_*)

- EIS


	6. Soothe

**Soothe, A Zutara Week 2013 Story**

**Title: Soothe, A Zutara Week 2013 Story**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Words:** 1,970  
**Pairings:** Just look at the title…_  
_**Summary: **Zuko has a nightmare of burning and death and Katara…  
**Authors Note:** Welcome to Day 6 of Zutara Week. I have decided that all these stories will be from Katara's POV (third person limited), with this being the only Zuko POV. I can't believe that my first ever ZUTARA WEEK is almost through!  
**Disclaimer:** Bryke (Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko) and Nickelodeon own EVERYTHING. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them.

* * *

**Playlist:  
** _ Nothing Can be Explained_, Mike Wyzogowski - **HAVE TO LISTEN! GO PULL IT UP RIGHT NOW!**  
_Breathe Me_, Sia

* * *

soothe (verb): to reduce pain of discomfort

* * *

**Soothe**

_Lost on the way, no one to blame, no one to save, _  
_nothing to do with the way everything's changed_

* * *

"Do you know who I am?" Voice bitter, cold, like the ice of the Northern Pole. Unforgiving. Unrelenting.

"No. I'm not sure."

"Oh, you better remember me like your life depends on it! Why don't you take a closer look?" Cruel. All ice and no warmth. Beautiful in all her sorrow and pain.

"Yes, yes, I remember you now. You're that little Water Tribe girl."

She holds both her arms out, halting the falling raindrops and creating a shield above the three of them. After a few moments, she sends a forceful stream of water at Yon Rha, transforming the steam into a flurry of ice daggers. He crouches in fear, preparing for the hit that will end him. She stops the knives mid-flight, Winter Queen breaking in two as they liquefy.

Katara froze the rain. She tamed the raw element itself, something legendary, something no one had done in a very long time. She bent it, taking it's infinity in her palm to show Yon Rha what she could do. What Katara hadn't realised was that she had taken his heart in her hand, too.

Zuko watched her. He was hypnotised. His heart beat for her, his lungs contracted and expanded because she was alive beside him. His Uncle had talked about the curse that his family suffered. That when they found their love, that was it. The End. No more story. It was Them or Nothing.

As a young boy, his mother had also told an almost identical story. He had jeered and sneered, laughing and snorting in disbelief. Why was his mother with his father, then, if this great and powerful Curse of One was upon her? Then he remembered his Uncle, and on the days he felt small because of Ozai's hatred, he would ask if that was what had happened to his Uncle and his dead Aunt.

He had never understood that sad look that would enter his mother's eyes. It was only now, when the thousands of uncountable stars glistened and pulsed in the clear velvet of the sky above, and Katara lay a little distance away, her breathing even and her face showing how young and vulnerable she really was, did he finally comprehend just what it meant.

And he decided that he would make the same sacrifice for her and whoever she loved.

___Lost I feel a little like a child who's lost, a little like, _  
_(everything's changed) a lot, I didn't like all of the pain, _

_everything's changed_

* * *

In his dreams, Zuko chooses her. He bursts into the crystal filled cavern with its eerie green lights, like the thousands of stars illuminating the velvet darkness of the night. He hears the faint lapping of the water, lulling and calming, and smells the burning, living acrid scent of lightning just in time to redirect away from her – and the Avatar. In his dreams Zuko holds her, wrapping his arms around her soft body, caught somewhere between girl-child and woman. In his dreams Katara loves him, giving him kisses and promises and eye with the same depth and colour of the ocean, filled with a peace and constant ebb that fights away all his demons. In his dreams, Katara is by his side.

_  
Lost, confused, a lot of it, is hard to take, and cause of it,  
everything's changed I thought I'd make it through the pain_

_everything's changed_

* * *

"_Oh, I'll _show _you lightning!"_

The world was dying around him. The sky was screaming in agony. The buildings are burning, flames as high as towers and Zuko can feel their pull – can feel them toying with him, asking to play to bend to move to join them. Azula's mad, deranged, tortured laughter fills the air and Zuko is running, heart pounding, blood roaring. No thoughts beside _she can't leave me too i can't lose someone else i love_ and no feelings beside fear.

That place deep inside him – that place that is Ozai and Sozin and Azulon and all his ancestors, blood thirty and sadistic and cruel and wild – claws at his sanity, wanting control, wanting to stop his sister from trying to take everything away from him again. That dark place that only she can tame, that is only quiet and still when she is near.

He feels the raw, unbridled power flow through him – control, dominance, life, death –as he jumps in front of her, offering the only thing he can for her. He feels Azula's blue enter into his red heart and knows that he has failed the one time he had to succeed.

He tried to move, tries to get to her as she runs towards him, screaming his name. He has wanted to hear her scream it for nights and days on end, but now he wants nothing more than to have her be silent and cold, because her feeling and passion are consuming him, multiplying his agony and hatred. He feels pain like nothing before, and has no idea if it is because of the power that is cage din his heart or the pain he hears in her voice as it bounces and pounds against his mind.

"_I'd really rather our family physician look after Little Zuzu if you don't mind…" Azula taunts her and Zuko feels that dark place wither and crone, begging for something he is more than willing to offer. "Zuzu, you don't look so good!"_

He feels the spark inside him, that one that is a constant flickering heat in his chest. His power. His heart. His soul. Her possession. It is dying, spitting and shrinking as he fights and tries to reignite the flame. It trickles. Down and down and down, and he knows that this is the end. That he will die and she will die and that he failed her. He will never forgive himself.

The ink is pushing against the colour of the world, slowly leaking and mixing into the colours, darkening them, blurring them so that his world becomes nothing more than shapes and blobs. The world is fading, his breath is slowing, his heart is stuttering and his eyes are closing.

The ink is incredible. Silent. Peaceful. Nothingness and solitude. Everything that was missing from his stupid, painful, unlucky, ill-favoured life.

But it's missing her.

He is moving through the black, but standing still. Even though it's total and utter dark, he knows that his New World is moving faster than anything he has ever seen or felt. Invisible wind whips at his clothes and hair. It is both warm and cold. Is this the World of the Dead? Is this Purgatory?

Up ahead, he sees a line of a thousand thousand people. All shapes, all size, all ages, all ethnicities, all cultures. All have a scar like the one on his eye somewhere on their bodies. He wonders if he, like the Avatar, is reincarnated. Why? For what purpose? He fly's past the statue like once-him's. There. One dressed in Earth Kingdom garb, his mouth twisting in a single, silent name. He knows what the Earth Kingdom-him says, feels it in his bones, a resounding pull and tug. Om…

Suddenly, he feels claws inside him, digging and ripping at his heart. Forcing it to beat once, twice, three times. Every time is painful; everything is agony and searing, searing icy cold.

The burning in his heart lessens. His breathing eases. He comes back to himself with a start, and the first thing he says is her name, because he knows that she is the only one who could bring him back from Death. "Thank you, Katara."

"I think I'm the one who should be thanking you..."

_Given the chance I would happily dance on the grave of the one _  
_who shows no remorse_

* * *

In his dreams, Zuko isn't fast enough. Azula cackles and taunts, her blue-fire illuminating the red of the burning, dying world around them. The world that they both used to call home. He hears the moaning of the wood, painful and so human that it makes him shiver, and smells the burning, living acrid scent of lightning too late. He is not fast enough and it consumes her. In his dreams, Zuko defeats Azula and goes to her, taking the fury from her skin into his palm, wrapping his arms around her soft body, caught somewhere between girl-child and woman. In his dreams, he can smell her burning flesh and see the angry burn-marks across her perfect, dark skin. Her glassy, open eyes that used to have the same depth and colour of the ocean are filled with the pain she suffered before they turned dead and cold. The ebb is gone and his demons consume him. In his dreams, Katara is dead in his arms.

_Lost I feel a little like, a child who's lost, a little like, _  
_(everything's changed) a lot, I didn't like all of the pain, _

_everything's changed_

* * *

"Shh. It's okay. Breathe, Zuko. Breathe with me. Shh, shh. Hush."

Zuko closes his eyes and breathes. The smell of stale lightning still hangs heavy in the air, but he can almost make out the musky smell of smoke and fire under it, and her rain and winter scent blankets him. He feels her palm against his bare chest, right over a strange stinging and burning star-shaped place.

His new scar is strangely smooth under her palm. "Shh, shh Zuko. You're okay. We won. You're alive…"

Then he remembers. His breathing catches and he sucks in a shallow breath, his eyes dilating with fear and tension and everything he has seen and not-seen. She was dead and I was his fault, she was burned and tainted and gone and he had been alive and the monster had shattered its cage and left its dark place.

" 'tara…" Whispers, really, not words – just a fleeting rush of air shaped into some syllables of her names as he tries to banish the images of her body in his arms and her dead, empty ocean eyes…

"Yes, Zuko. It's me. I'm alive and Azula is where she should be…"

She starts to shift her hand away and his own lashes out, quick as a hyena-rattlesnake, and clasps around her slim wrist in an iron cuff. "She killed you… I wasn't strong enough…"

Katara shakes her head, moving to lie down half on top of him and places her head against his chest, right over where his heart beats out of rhythm as it pumps with electricity and Azula's blue. It always will. She is forever more a part of him. "No, Zuko. No, no. You were strong enough. You saved me. I would have died if you hadn't…" She stops, and he feels hots, liquid tears land on his bare skin.

He shivers reflectively and she notices, moving off him just long enough to pull his silk sheets over the two of them. He flashes her a look, baffled and ecstatic and hooded. She smiled thinly. "It's been seven years…"

Then he remembers. His life comes back to him in flashes and bangs. Iroh. Toph. Fire Nation. King. Throne. War. Blood. Death. Riots. Aang. Sokka. Azula. Katara. Aang and Katara. Fighting. Assassins. Plots. Arguments. Laws. Mending. Katara…

The night she soothed his demon permanently…

"I will always be here. I love you, my Firelord."

He pulls her tightly against him, burying his face in her hair and remembers that his family's curse is the only reason he is still alive. Because she was the One for him, and she bought him back.

_  
nothing is plain  
nothing can be explained, nothing_

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A/N: This took my breathe away. At eight this evening, all I had was the idea of Zuko having a nightmare. I was watching Bleach, when Nothing Can be Explained started playing. And then everything fell into place. The dream and the nightmare, the two starring ZUTARA moments from A:TLA in my opinion, besides _The Cross Roads of Destiny - Sozin's Comet Part 3: Into The Inferno/The Southern Raider _in case you were wondering_..._

This is the darkest out of all my ficlets for ZUATRA WEEK, and I hope you got feelings when reading it. I would highly recommended playing **Nothing Can Be Explained** while reading, because it sets the mood I want and really gets Zuko's POV on everything very elegantly, especially in regard to this story. I love the idea of Katara just being it for Zuko. I love thinking that his love was so great, it didn't matter if she was with him or not, but that she was HAPPY. That was the inspiration behind this whole tale or woe and death.

Yes. I saw Zuko died after taking in that lightning, and that Katara used bloodbending and healing to bring him back. He accepted her bloodbending where everyone else scorned or feared it. He has his own demons- he is the Master Of Fire, the Destroyer. He understands that all power can become dangerous and dark, no matter who wields it.

Ursa was in love with Iroh. She fell when she married Ozai in an arranged match. Iroh was happy with his wife and child, and Ursa loved him so much she didn't care as long as she could be near him. The Curse Of One - One True Love. Yes, she loved Ozai. But it was always Iroh - kind, sweet, humorous Iroh, who was always willing to talk over tea and sit by the turtle duck pond.

Anyway, I'm kinda tired, so I will leave it there. I will be posting a CHAPTER EIGHT, FULL CIRCLE type thing with all my thoughts on each Day and the outtakes I wrote and abandoned for better ideas.

**READ AND REVIEW! **(I hope to get at least 30 by the time Zutara week is over... I refuse to take bets, because I have crappy luck *_*)

**- EIS**


	7. Spark

**Spark, A Zutara Week 2013 Story  
****Title: Spark, A Zutara Week 2013 Story**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Words:**  
**Pairings:** Just look at the title…_  
_**Summary: **On the hunt for Katara's mother, Zuko has a nightmare…  
**Authors Note:** Oh My Appa. My first ZUATAR WEEK is now officially complete. I have to say goodbye (for this year). Thank you to all who read and reviewed my contributions. Thank you for all your supportive words and happy encouragement! It has been a great experience, writing for a set idea in such a short period of time. Some incredible ideas have come from this, and I'm thinking of making one into a full-fledged story! I know for a fact that this story has had well over a five thousand visitors this weeks, and because it's the last chapter (I may post outtakes or the ideas I didn't go through with eventually) DROP A REVIEW!  
Anyway, here is my little question to you guys: **Out of these ficlets, which would you like most to see as a multi-chaptered story?** It doesn't have to be extremely long, but is an expansion/more background. Leave your answer in a review, or PM.

**Disclaimer:** Bryke (Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko) and Nickelodeon own EVERYTHING. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them.

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**Playlist:  
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spark (verb): Emit sparks of fire or electricity; to engage in courtship

spark (noun): a small fiery particle thrown off from a fire, alight in ashes, or produced by striking together to hard surfaces such as stone or metal

* * *

**Spark**

Immortals were not allowed to fall in love with the mortals they guarded and guided. Their job specified that they must deal with these mortals objectively. Conflict of interest occurred when their actions started being influenced by emotion. It could disrupt the delicate balance between the Mortal Realm and the Spirit World. As soon as emotion became involved, the Balance shifted.

Yet she had been unable to help herself and Tui-Yue, Agni, La, Koh, Himeakatateha – anyone help her, she didn't want to stop feeling.

It had been so long since she had felt anything at all beside sadness and sorrow and torment.

She collected souls in pain or suffering and when it was time, she ensured their final moments were peaceful before being brought up to the heavens. She took their pain into her, took it out of their body, to give them peace and clarity. She cleansed their Spark – the force inside everything, mortal or otherwise, that was the reason they existed. Every Spark looked different and individual. No two were the same. But, her touch could calm and soothe every Spark, no matter what. She could allow them to die quietly, painlessly, by taking their feeling away and living them with their cleansed Spark. It was what she did.

She loved what she did, because the Spirit World was beautiful and she had seen the anguish and pain of life. The death and destruction and heartbreak. She never understood why so many chose to start again, be reincarnated as someone else. Live a new life with new choices and new experiences. The spirit retained all of its past lives upon their death and many would go back over and over, hoping to do something different or take a different path. But they never could, really, because their life was set out on its path and it could deviate and backtrack, but it would always return to the main road.

She was the best of her Kind. She Obeyed the Law. But sometimes she wondered what it would be like to live. To feel heat and warmth, tiredness and cold, hope and misery, hunger and thirst. Fear. She wondered what it would be like to lose something she cared for greatly.

xZxKx

The man was seriously ill; he was dying. She always arrived seven days before the mortal was actually supposed to die, to ease the suffering they were experiencing and help their spluttering Spark as it was snuffed out by her Water on the eighth day. The Spirits had more leeway with the Mortals, but for Immortals, like her, there was a set of laws that must be obeyed.

This man was handsome; she had to admit, as she crept in through the open window of his hospital room and softly padded up to his bed. Rugged, earthy. Smooth skin kissed by Agni's light, warm eyes the colour of mud and wild, untamed hair. He looked like a fighter. Someone who had always worked for what he wanted and was never given anything.

On the first day she touched his cheek gently, her hand glowing blue as her Water sunk beneath his skin and into his Spark. _Are you death_? His eye had winked open lazily, staring at the wall a metre to her left. She had covered her mouth to stop from laughing - _**Our Third Law Is To Never Break The Silence**_ – and shook her head.

She spoke to his mind, letting her Spark brush against his. "_No._"

"_Then what are you_?" He asked with his mind again, using her telepathic abilities.

"_I'm here to make you last moments peaceful before I can take you to the heavens."_ Her lips did not move although she spoke. Her thumb brushed along his forehead tenderly, a small smile on her face.

"_The pain is… fading. Are you doing that_?"

"_Yes."_

"_Why?"_

"_It is my job_."

xZxKx

On the second day, the Mortal told her about his life. His dreams, his passions, his victories, his defeats, his regrets and the torturous moment's in-between that made up his life. All his most cherished and vivid memories were off three people: Long Shot and Bee, his Mortal girlfriend, and his brother. Zuko.

He had been a soldier, fighting for justice and right and good, and he had met Bee, Long Shot and Zuko on the battlefield. These tale interested her the most. She had watched Mortal fights all her existence, watched the vile killing and inhumane acts with sadistic, disturbing curiosity. She had always found it strange; the way Mortal nature wanted heroes and yet wanted to destroy their heroes when they got them. It was a kind of mass insecurity, wanting something to look up to and get a buzz off but, at the same time, wanting to destroy it because it made them feel insecure.

She didn't understand why so many of her Kind had wanted to be Mortal.

She also learnt that Zuko was not actually his brother. She hadn't asked what this Zuko was to him, though she had felt strong feelings surge and bubble in his Spark, bleeding through the thin barrier that completely separated her from him whenever he thought of him. But she had listened with riveted interest as he told her about what he and Zuko had gotten up to in their youths. The fights and brawls; the escapades and shenanigans; the loving and the living.

She had decided that she would probably like this Zuko-mortal. He has guided by honour and treated everyone with respect and acceptance. No matter their race, gender, family or position. Which was, apparently, strange because Zuko was from wealth and fortune and power.

Still, his stories were incredible and she found herself wanting to hear more. Wanting him to go on and on and on. She wanted to look into his memories - _**Our Sixth Law Is To Never Enter The Mind – **_just so she could see the memory play out and put a name to the face of his Zuko-mortal. To see Bee and Long Shot, and Duke and Pip, and all the people he had met and loved and fought besides.

She had never wanted this before.

xZxKx

On the third day, he had his first visitor since she had arrived,

"Hello?" She turned to the person who entered the room and she had started, eyes widening. She knew who this man was immediately, even though he looked nothing like the man on the bed who had told her story after story after story. Hi skin was pale, the colour of the snow she had seen grace the ground in Winter and his hair was long and thick, straight. It hung over his forehead and touched the bridge of his nose, hooding his eyes from view.

He held the slightly bigger build, his shoulders broad and well-muscled, his jaw strong, his arms iron bands. He moved fluidly, like a cat or lion. His Spark would have blinded her if it wasn't curtained in sorrow. She had never seen a Spark so bright. It was obvious that he had been sleeping little and yet he forced a small smile as he walked in, even though his brother could not see it.

Molten gold met her eyes, staring straight into her Spark, even though she was invisible to all but her charge.

"_Zuko," _he informed her, his thoughts reminding her of a strangled breath. "_That is my brother. He comes by whenever he can escape his duties. I can hear him but I can never respond."_

Since the living could not see her, he did not even acknowledge her presence as he walked over and sat down at the chair beside the bed, setting down a small box on the stand. "You always were a lazy dick, but this is just ridiculous…"

It was not the first time that she had seen a moment like this, but It was the first time she had ever been affected by it. Her eyes were fixed on the glaring, angry burn-scar across his left cheek and temple, branding his otherwise perfect skin. His golden eyes held such a profound sadness in his twisted face that she felt… she felt something.

She wanted to materialise and wrap him in her arms, bring him to her chest and whisper soothing, comforting things in his ear. She wanted to tell him that his brother would be fine – _**Our Seventh Law Is To Never Shed A Tear – **_that he would be happy where he was going and that he would miss him so much.

But she didn't. She sat down on the floor cross-legged in front of him like the small children she had seen in classrooms, and watched him as he read to his friend. He he spent hours with him. Sometimes he would read. Sometimes he would talk. Sometimes he would sit and hold his brother's hand while he slept on.

Twice, she watched in tortured silence as he broke down, so quietly that she would have missed it if she was passing by on a hospital round. But because she was there, right in front of him, she saw. She couldn't take it.

It hurt her to see him cry

xZxKx

On the fourth day, he arrived again, dressed in very formal attire and carrying a stack full of papers.

He didn't say anything to the body in the bed, or acknowledge her presence in the stark, white room. He pulled the table on wheels from the corner, moving it around the small space, until it was right in front of the window and beside the bed. Then, he sat down and started reading through the papers and doing work.

She watched him, fascinated, as his shoulders tensed and untensed. She watched the fluidness of his hand as he moved over the pages, writing and marking and crossing out. She floated over to the window and sat on the sill, bringing her knees up to her chest and resting her head on top of them. She studied his face. The patchwork nature of it, the emotions that flickered.

She reached out tentatively, her hand hovering over the scar, before pulling it away and letting it hang limp by her side.

"_His father did that to him," _he whispered in her mind, startling her out of her ruminations as she observed._ "His father was a sick bastard who took pleasure in the pains of others. His mother disappeared when he was young, leaving Zuko and his sister, Azula, alone with that sadist. The only person who actually gave a damn about Zuko was his Uncle. Iroh_."

She stared at Zuko as he stopped his writings. He glanced up, his golden eyes focusing on where she sat and she froze, going stiller then anything of nature could. His eyes were unfocused, and she wanted to them to look at her. Wanted to see them take her in, wanted to see them acknowledge her presence.

He squinted and his breath caught. He jerked, sending his papers flying everywhere as he jumped out of his chair, sending it flying backwards into the bed. His golden eyes widened in fright and confusion, focused intently on _her_.

"_Can he see you?"_ She had reply. Her shock broke the connection she held with him and his body lurched in its bed. Zuko turned around quickly, severing whatever connection he had ignited and rushed to his side.

Zuko picked up his limp hand and grasped it in his. She quickly moved over to his bed and placed her hands on his temples, closing her eyes as she re-established her siphoning.

A nurse ran in, a chart in her hands.

"What's happening? Is he...?"

"No, sir. He isn't waking up."

Zuko fell asleep, clasping his brother's hand. She retrieved his paperwork and organised it for him. – _**Our Ninth Law Is To Never Leave An Impact – **_

xZxKx

On the fifth day, he told her his last memory.

"We fought… about something so stupid, I can't even remember what it was. I think he _feels guilty because he thinks that those are the last word I will remember sharing with him. The last words he spoke."_

Which wasn't true, she had known that and he knew that. But Zuko didn't, and he was suffering because of it. Unfortunately, there was nothing either of them could do about it. In the end, she had remained longer than she should have, watching the young, beautiful man as he told another story about a pregnant friend named Toph and her partner Aang.

She knew that her charge… her dying friend greatly appreciated these stories, was glad that Zuko came to talk to him even if he couldn't reply.

When Zuko's face fell blank, losing all emotion, she rushed to his side. Zuko buried his face in his hands and a shudder rocked through his body. "They say that people in a coma can still hear and sense what is going on in the world around them. They say that they know when someone is with them, but they just can't move. I want to believe it – I want to believe it so badly that it makes me physically sick to think otherwise… but I can't keep going on. I can't keep the pain at bay… I was always so weak… I can't keep doing this… Jet, please…"

She was before him, crouching down in the space between his legs as he dry-sobbed into his hands. She couldn't watch him cry again – _**Our Fourth Law Is To Never Touch Bare Skin – **_and she couldn't let the darkness consume him. She reached out a hand and cupped his cheek, feeling the flutter of his heartbeat like butterfly wings or a hurricane; feeling the heat and warmth he radiated like Agni through her palm. He shivered as she gasped, a spark appearing and dancing along her fingertips and along her hip and spine and across her clavicle to her chest.

She felt Zuko shiver again as her hand, coated in glowing blue, stroked his jaw and rough, calloused hands. She soothed, humming a soft lullaby as she calmed his Spark. When his breathing returned to normal and his heartbeat slowed a little, she lessened the glow.

"Please don't stop…"

She stilled, her hand ghosting along his jaw.

"You make the pain fade…"

Before she could think, before she could react, the same nurse from the day before entered. Song. She was small and petite and attractive, and she found herself hating Song because of that. And because of the way she looked at Zuko and touched him.

"Are you alright, sir?" She asked.

Zuko blinked, staring right through to gaze at Song.

"No. I don't think I ever will be."

xZxKx

It was his dedication and obvious love her charge – Jet – that captured and held her curiosity and thoughts, she rationalised to herself as she watched him. She had seen many people do as he did, but never with the same amount of resolution. No matter what, rain or shine or heat or cold, Zuko arrived in Jet's room and sat with him.

"Do you remember when we were seventeen, and Uncle took us to that lake in the country outside Ba Sing Se? Laogi, or something? And you and I fought over that girl, Jin, trying to decide who would ask her out. Uncle stopped us and that night, she asked me out as I worked in the Jasmine Dragon?" Zuko chuckled. She had long since decided that she liked the sound of his voice. Wood catching fire. "You refused to acknowledge my presence for the rest of the summer, even though she and I only had one date. You always could hold a grudge. Uncle would always say that was why we were friends…."

He sighed, running a hand through his thick hair. He did that a lot, so much so that she wanted to do it too, just to see why it held such an attraction to him. And because it always seemed to calm him.

"I think I can feel something… whenever I am in here, I feel something calming. It's like the sound of a trickling stream through a dark forest on a hot summer's day. Tranquilly and peace. A sense of comfort and home. At first I thought it was you, Jet, but I know you outside and in… I have ever since that summer when we were eighteen and heartbroken… ever since that night…"

Zuko made a frustrated sound and got out of the chair, stalking around to the other side of the bed. She sat perched on the edge of the bed, curled up into a ball like a small child or kitten, watching him with all her attention. With all her being.

"Even though I want to believe it's you with everything inside me, I know it isn't. I know that it's something else… and it's addictive. This presence is like a drug that I can't get enough of. A drug that numbs the pain."

_**Our Eighth Law Is To Never Create A Connection**_

The lines between her home and this mortal plane were blurring the more time she spent in the presence of his Spark. She couldn't get enough of it. If he wasn't so lonely and sad and angry and bitter, it would be the brightest Spark she had ever seen. It made no sense. Each Spark was different, yes, but they all burned in similar ways. She had been taught that no one Spark could truly be brighter then another, yet Zuko's…

She didn't know anything for certain anymore

xZxKx

"_I can't hear this anymore. The pain… Zuko's pain… I feel it… its tangible and moving… it's so dark that I'm losing focus on the light." _Jet's word on the seventh day pierced her like a hundred thousand knives, digging deeply into her and twisting.

She understood. It was her constant connection to him that allowed Jet to see and feel what Zuko was feeling. Jet asked her, pleaded. Can you really do nothing but watch? That's what she was meant to do. What her Kind were created to do. But, everything had changed.

In an instant, she broke.

It was the seventh day. Tomorrow, she would kill Jet.

"Good evening, sir."

Her voice split the air of the room, cutting across it like a knife. She was taken aback for a moment, never having heard it before. Lilting, like running water. She was visible now, appearing as girl dressed all in blue. – _**Our Fifth Law Is To Never Reveal Our Presence – **_She walked into the room, her smile warm. She caught a glimpse of dark chocolate out of the corner of her eye. Hair and skin. At first Zuko spared her only a passing glance and a murmured a greeting, before his gaze suddenly snapped back to her in complete shock.

It was one thing to watch, it was another thing being watched.

She saw Zuko force himself to look back down at his brother. "You're new." His voice was flat.

"Not really," she said, listening to the own trill of her voice. "I have been taking care of Jet for the past week."

Frowning slightly at the use of Jet's name, Zuko's molten gaze flickered over her. "Thank you for taking care of him... though it's a surprise. I have been here every day."

"I knew your brother."

"What?"

Another frown. He was truly looking at her without turning away, despite obviously being affected by her presence. He stood and she fought the urge to place her hand against her chest as unfamiliar feeling started. Zuko stood up from the chair and walked towards her, skirting the edge of the bed. She took two instinctual steps backwards before stilling herself. He stopped in front of her and for a moment it looked as if he was going to touch her, but refrained. "You knew him? How?"

"Ba Sing Se." Jet had met Zuko when they were both sixteen. In Ba Sing Se. Iroh had taken Jet in a year later. It made sense. "We were friends. Actually, I requested to transfer here for a little while... when I heard about… We weren't very close..." Now that she had the ability, she couldn't find the words. "He spoke about you…"

This surprised him. "He...he did?"

"Yes. All the time." She pretended to check over Jet. "It's nice to meet you, finally. I feel like I've known you for a while."

He said nothing. She couldn't say anything. The silence stretched between them.

He blinked, snapping out of his stare, and his face coloured. "Are you..?"

"Oh!" She wiped at the liquid that trickled down her cheeks. "I...I'm so sorry..."

"It's fine," He said seriously but he wasn't really looking at her but rather at Jet. She could still see the colour on his pale cheek. "I'm kind of glad he had someone… we had a rocky beginning, and I wasn't always the..."

"I know. He told me about this one time in the lower ring…"

They traded stories. When hours had left them, she got up to leave. But before she could, something firm wrapped around her wrist. Gasping, she turned and he was standing right in front of her. His hand encircled her wrist, his thumb stroking the place she was supposed to have veins. She remained speechless, lips parted, face flushed. Being so close to him like this felt really good.

"Thank you for this…" He trailed off, lips turning down, releasing her wrist. She smiled, lips pulling up and she wondered what it would actually be like to feel the warmth of his hand on her skin. She wondered if she was as cold as the ocean where she was as warm as the sun.

"That's fine, Zuko." Something crossed his face and she wondered if it was because he was desperate to know more about his brother.

Or something more she wasn't allowed to comprehend.

xZxKx

Today was the day she would kill Jet.

Today was the last day she would see Zuko.

"_It's today, isn't it_?" Jet asked, the question floating through her mind and hanging in the air like a guillotine over a neck.

She made no reply, verbal or telepathic, but continued to stand by the open window, looking out over the bay, a still silhouette against the dawning light. Gazing out, she felt a tear slid down her cheek and rest at the corner of her mouth. She gave an unsteady breath even though she didn't need to breathe.

"_That is the only reason you came. Because you wanted to ease my pain in the week before my death…"_

"_I told you that myself."_ She wanted to her the lilt of her voice, but she continued to speak into his mind, afraid of what the silence contained.

She felt his Spark crackle and the pull inside her started. It was time.

"_The Spirit World will welcome you, brother."_

Pain lanced through Jet's chest and she immediately pulled her Water to her, letting it glove her hands, the blue glow a strange, ethereal thing to behold. Jet's body didn't move, but she felt the roar of his emotions. Pain, suffering, anguish. Torment, hope, sadness, love, happiness… pain, pain, pain.

She gasped, never before feeling the emotions as strong as she did now. She wondered if it was because she was too close to him. That she had formed a connection that shouldn't even exist. Whatever the reason, it didn't matter. He was in pain, he was dying and she was supposed to kill him.

"_It… burns…"_

"_I'm trying… please, just stay with me."_

The door to Jet's room burst open and she lurched. Zuko stood in the doorway – strong, powerful, alive – and his eyes focused intently on Jet as he lay in the bed, noiselessly and still. She felt herself tense, felt her Spark flare.

"Jet…" Zuko pressed forward. She noticed that he wasn't as put together as all his other visits. His hair was a wild halo around his head, his clothes were rumpled. His tunic-top was half undone, giving her a glimpse of smooth marble flesh with defined muscles. "Jet, no. Jet you can't leave. Jet I'm so sorry. Jet, I don't hate you. I didn't mean what I said. Jet, wake up. Jet. Jet. Jet?!"

She didn't know if what she was feeling was Jet's pain or her own. Whoevers, it was a hit to the stomach, a sword through the stomach. She couldn't do this. She couldn't watch. She couldn't be here and not let him know she was here. Jet's Spark was almost gone, and like all Sparks, it was trying to get to her Spark, to absorb its warmth and power, to feel alive again.

Can you really do nothing?

She could feel Jet's pain as she slipped into his body, using herself as a medium so that he could have his last few moments. It felt heavy. Substantial. She saw Zuko catch his breath as she slowly lifted a dark hand. Jet leaned in, startling the chair backwards, and she felt the touch of his warmth as Zuko slid his hand into Jet's.

"Idiot Fire Nation, I know you could never hate me." The words were said slowly but clearly. "Thank you, for coming here.. for staying with me. I know...you don't..." now he was frowning, mostly in concentration. His body wasn't going to last much longer and he could feel the strain it was putting on the girl who had kept him company all week with her beautiful face and soft touch. "Live, Zuko. I know you don't feel that you can do that without me but...live the life I couldn't. If you can at least try...I can die in peace. I want you...to be happy."

Still holding his brother's hand, he dipped his head. His words came out hard and strained. "I promise I'll try. My brother." His gripped tightened. The words caught. "Thank you for being my brother, Jet. I know I didn't show it, but I was...happy." his voice cracked but still he did not look up at his brother, couldn't.

"I was happy...to be… your brother… Fire Nation… even if it had… been for just a… little while…" Jet squeezed Zuko's hand and placed a kiss to his lips. "I never regretted... I love… Zuko…"

She was thrown out of Jet's body, through the air and into the wall opposite the bed. Her head connected with the edge of a painting and she felt pain. Zuko's head snapped up and his gaze focused on her, eyes widening in disbelief.

She avoided Zuko's gaze as he _stared_ at her with those piercing golden eyes. He was very intelligent, he was able to put two and two together for the most part.

"You…"

Bolting up from his chair, golden eyes locked onto her, stunned. She blinked up at him, struggling to get up, but finding she couldn't support herself. She heard a twinkling bell and started, looking down to see her legs fading. He came towards her and she scrambled backwards.

"I-I'm sorry Zuko..." but she had to go. She couldn't stay. She needed to take Jet and move on, forget about everything that had happened in his room… Even though leaving him was the last thing she wanted to do.

Faster than she had expected, he was there by her side, his hand lightly gripping her fading arm. His gaze, was intense. Fire and passion. He looked confused, lost, and afraid. Determined.

"You...he had been able to speak to me because of you."

"Yes."

"Who are you? _What_ are you?"

"I have to go…"

"No. You can't… I won't let you."

_He is in love with you._ Jet observed dryly from beside her, his spirit leaning against a wall, alert.

"Don't."

_He is an easy person to love if you can get close enough to him, isn't he?_ He seemed amused and a small smile drifted along her lips.

"Please. Don't do this." She didn't know if she was speaking to Jet or Zuko or both.

_You can talk with someone for years, every day, and still, it won't mean as much as what you can have when you sit in front of someone, not saying a word, yet you feel that person with your heart, you feel like you have known the person for forever... connections are made with the heart, not the tongue._ Jet continued.

"Stop it!"

_He has fallen in love with you. He's never shown an interest in anyone before. I know him. Better then he knows himself. It's alright to love him back._

"I can't!"

The grip tightened and she realized his fear was of her leaving. Jet's words danced across her mind and she felt herself breaking. Now she understood why immortals weren't supposed to interact with mortals... especially if they were in love.

"Why?" she shook her head but that wasn't an answer he was going to accept. "I had thought it was weird that you had all of a sudden appeared and no one had known who you were." Her eyes widened at this. He had actually asked about her? "Now this. I don't know what's going on, none of this with you makes sense but I know you're the reason I was able to talk to Jet…" The grip tightened and he almost spoke the words aloud but they wouldn't form.

She bit her lip briefly. "It was the only thing he wanted...was for you to be happy. To know that he knew how you felt and that..." she cut herself off. "I can't..."

"Wait." His gaze was pleading and she knew this was too much too fast for him. Because she had allowed herself to become personally involved, because they had fallen…

"I'm sorry. I really am sorry..."

Before she realized what was going on he was gripping her arms and lips moved over hers in a hard kiss. She returned it eagerly, knowing it would be the first and the last. Being in his arms felt as wonderful as she had imagined; his lips were surprisingly soft. She clung to him as arms wrapped around her slender frame tightly; as afraid that she would completely fade if he let her go.

"Don't go..." His face buried into the crook of her neck. "Please, don't go."

She shook her head, openly weeping. "I...I can't..."

"I promised him and I...I'm _not_ just saying this because of..." his voice caught. "I want to keep my promise, but I can't if you aren't…"

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry..."

xZxKx

She stood before the council. Agni. Tui-Yue. La. The Star Queen. The Earth Father.

And they made their judgment.

xZxKx

It started to rain as he reached his brother's grave and he stood in front of it, expression impassive. Winter had blanketed the world, and cold sinking into his skin. Knowing Jet, he had probably gone into Heaven or whatever; he had been a good man. A good brother.

Closing his eyes, he bowed his head slightly as he knelt. He sent a small prayer to his friend, hoping that he was doing well in the afterlife and promising that he would try and fulfill his vow the moment he could. Because he hadn't been able to since they had both left his life in the summer. All Jet had asked was for him to be happy. One simple thing and yet he had failed so spectacularly.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open at the sound of rain hitting fabric. He could no longer feel the drops falling down on him. Confused, he stood up and turned. The moment he did he almost dropped down to his knees.

"You…" It was impossible. She had_ literally_ disappeared. He would have thought her to be a figment of his desperate imagination had other people not seen her as well.

She was standing, holding the umbrella high enough to cover the both of them, in a blue dress. Her long hair was pulled back into a braid, two loops moving away from her temples. A pendent on a choker around her neck.

"I..."

"You never told me your name."

"What?"

Zuko ran a hand through is hair. "I didn't know your name, so I've been calling you Katara."

"Katara?"

"It means hope."

She smiled sadly. His movements were automatic, he wasn't thinking as he closed the distance, his brows furrowed with confusion and disbelief and the love he felt. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears and when he slowly began to move to wrap his arms around her the umbrella dropped as she all but flung herself against him. They clung to each other and he actually felt himself sigh in relief.

"I'm never letting you go."

"I know."

"One day, you'll explain this all to me."

"Of course."

"I love you so much."

"I love you to."

xZxKx

_**Our First Law Is To Never Fall In Love  
Our Second Law Is To Never Take Without Reason  
Our Third Law Is To Never Break The Silence  
Our Fourth Law Is To Never Touch Bare Skin**_  
_**Our Fifth Law Is To Never Reveal Our Presence **_  
_**Our Sixth Law Is To Never Enter The Mind  
Our Seventh Law Is To Never Shed A Tear  
Our Eighth Law Is To Never Create A Connection  
Our Ninth Law Is To Never Leave An Impact**_

* * *

_**A/N:** Authours note and thanks you to come soon. I just needed to get this up. I have to leave, like, now..._


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